Monday, January 25, 2010

Week 5 - Feeling Groovy

Well, practice does make perfect and 30 days of doing something does make a habit! :) Not that you needed my testimonial to approve what researchers have known for years.

Last week, I though about reincorporating starches (potatoes, and GF products) into my diet. After two days, I could feel my cravings increase and had an insatiable appetite. I decided I would just permanently remove those things to avoid the cravings.

Here are the things that I feel I have successfully either incorporated or removed from my diet/lifestyle:

Supplements:
  • Raw Greens (a shake a day keeps the colon cancer away)
  • Flax Seed
  • Daily Multi-Vitamin
  • Fish Oil

Removals:

  • Gluten
  • Starch (potatoes, sweet potatoes, chips, bread, crackers, corn, etc...)
  • High Fructose Corn Syrup
  • Beef
  • Drastically reduced caffeine intake (from 1 pot to 1 cup of coffee per day)
  • Any prepackaged or pre-prepped foods (except for salad dressing)

So, now what? Well, I've lost close to 10 pounds in 5 weeks. Researchers do say that 2lbs/week is an appropriate amount if your goal is long term weight loss. At this rate, I should be back to my "goal weight" in 15 more weeks. HA! I hate long term goals! If I didn't feel the difference, I would have given up by now. I feel great!!

This week, I have scheduled 5 days at the gym. I've been pretty lazy about this so far. First I was very sick and then, let's be honest - I didn't want to. It will be a challenge to get there that many days, but I am bound and determined to make it happen!!

Here is what a typical day's diet looks like for me.

Breakfast

  • 1 slice flax seed bread
  • 2 hard boiled eggs
  • 1 c. coffee with non-fat organic creamer (20 calories)

Mid-Morning Snack

  • 1 c. non-fat vanilla yogurt
  • 1/2 c. frozen organic blueberries (Costco)
  • 2 Tbsp. Flax Seed

Lunch

  • 2 slices of Turkey Breast
  • 1 wedge of laughing cow reduced fat cheese
  • 2 stalks of celery (I put the cheese in the celery)
  • 1 apple

Mid-Afternoon Snack

  • Spoonful of Almond Butter

Dinner

  • Meat (Typically, fish or chicken)
  • Two different veggies
  • Salad w/balsamic vinaigrette
  • For my husband, I add pasta or french bread...some form of carb to help him get full.

Dessert

  • Sugar-free jello/pudding

3 comments:

  1. okay, i'm TOTALLY not criticizing or anything here, but weren't you going off on artificial sweeteners just recently? i ask because of the sugar-free jello/pudding dessert you mentioned. is there something i don't know about those? i always just assumed (and therefore never bought them) that they had splenda or nutrasweet or something in them. just curious.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think the Jell-O brand stuff does have NutraSweet in it. (I can see the logo in my head, I'm pretty sure that is what they used).

    To avoid that - avoid the prepackaged stuff all together and make your own "Jell-O" with gelatin. You can use a combo of sugar, fruit juice and frozen fruit to sweeten and flavor it.

    I have never used artificial sweeteners, either. I don't understand why anyone would - just use less sugar. The health benefits of artificial sweeteners are limited to the caloric value. So, if your only aim is to reduce calories, minimizing the sugar, which is not a carcinogen makes more sense! :)

    Thanks Rach! Most people are not going to make homemade old-fashioned "gelatin"...in which case – Jell-O will do! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. gotcha. it just sounded suspicious. i actually don't buy any type of jello because it seems like a whole lot of calories that are filled w/ nothing (my kids are so deprived). kind of like drinking kool-aid or something. gelatin itself kind of creeps me out, anyway so we'll probably just stick to the fruit solo... but should they start bugging me about jello at some point, i'll probably try the homemade method.

    ReplyDelete