outintexas: A change in diet

Paul (

outintexas) wrote,
@ 2008-03-02 20:41:00

Current mood:	optimistic
Entry tags:	diet, food

A change in diet
Anyone that knows me knows I'm a junk food junky and eat way too much fast food (like, twice a day, every day).

And anyone that has read this blog knows that late last year I put on a lot of weight... from stress-eating, to the all-you-can-eat cruise, to the Holidays, to dating... I got up to 196 at one point (about 20lbs above where I want to be).

Of course, getting dumped in January sent me down about 8 pounds to 188, but I completely plateaued there once I got over the shock and depression a couple of weeks later. (Daily affirmation: I deserve better; I deserve respect and consideration; I deserve someone who communicates; I deserve someone who is nice.)

So when a good friend offered to let me beta-test his new diet-program web-site (Nutrition for You (www.nu4you.net)), I signed right up. I've been on it for two weeks now.

That's two weeks of no fast food, nothing fried, no full-fat dairy, and only one soda in all that time (I slipped this morning!). It's actually been working really well, averaging a loss of 1.5 pounds a week (three pounds in two weeks). The best part? You eat a LOT. I love food, and I almost feel like I can't possibly eat as much as this diet wants me to. Only two days in the past two weeks have I exceeded the 'target' amounts of food or calories for a given day (not-ironically the only two days I had a meal out at a restaurant). Some days I've come in really short of the calorie target, and yet I feel like I'm eating a lot more than I used to.

And in spite of that, I'm losing weight. Steadily.

I'm not really exercising any more either. Well, actually, I am exercising a little more, but it's not super-significant (yet). It's just about food choices. I can't believe I haven't even had refined white flour or white rice. Multi- and Whole-grains only!

The drawbacks? Well damn, there's a lot of dishes to do all of a sudden. God that's annoying :-) And I'm not reading as much, because my "reading time" has always been the time I sat in restaurants or fast-food places, eating by myself. I'm going to have to find other time to fit my reading in. I've also spent a lot of time preparing meals, doing dishes, etc. that I never really did before, as well as a lot more grocery shopping.

One of the other things about the diet is you eat pretty much every three hours. Given all that work (preparation, cleaning, shopping, and having to log everything I eat into a website), I'm shocked I've stuck with it this long. I'm pretty lazy when it comes to this kind of thing, but I'm liking the results. I really want to get back into regular pants, get back into shape (ramping up the exercise a bit), and start feeling good about my body and myself again.

It's been a rough year so far, and hopefully this is one thing that will help me turn things around.

Seriously. Two weeks with no butter, no cream, no whole milk, and only two days with any regular-fat cheese (the two days I ate out). Nothing fried! Who would have believed I could even do that, let alone want to continue it.

185 and continuing down! (I haven't seen this weight in six months I don't think)

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	mekkasimian 2008-03-03 04:29 am UTC (link)
	SO... WHAT CATCH? =M= (Reply to this)(Thread)

outintexas
2008-03-03 06:09 am UTC (link)

The "catch" is nothing more than I've laid out. You can eat more, but only of "good" food. If you eat "bad" food, well, you have to eat less. My calorie target is about 1850/day. I can blow through that in one meal at Jack in the Box. Eating turkey sandwiches on whole grain bread, grilled chicken tenders, salads, grapes, non-fat yogurts, whole-grain cereals (with almond milk), salmon, cod, whole-wheat pasta, broccoli, scrambled eggs, etc, etc ... it's actually really hard.

You just eat smaller portions, more often, and try to keep to a standard balance of several food classes: mostly very lean meats and grains & starches, with lots of non-starchy vegetables (pretty much unlimited), more limited in fruits and fats (sticking with the good fats), and trying to limit sugars and alcohol (alcohol counts against your fat allowance).

So yeah, there's a catch... I've cut out butter, pastries, donuts, fast-food, fried anything! Eeep!! All my favorite comfort foods. No mashed potatoes and pepper-cream gravy! No macaroni and cheese! But I'm eating pretty well anyway. At least I don't have to give up carbs! Just make them whole-grain.

And actually I'm being far more religious about this diet, at least for now, than I need to be. It's based on weekly averages, so it's perfectly okay to indulge in anything you want, you just make up for it some other day. I've just eaten so badly for so long, I'm trying to stick to the healthy stuff as much as possible, and I'd like to lose this weight faster if possible.

After all, I'm only beta testing for three months. I don't want to have to PAY for this :-)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mekkasimian 2008-03-03 05:50 pm UTC (link)
	ONCE KNOW CONCEPT, NO NEED PAY! =M= (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

outintexas
2008-03-03 09:14 pm UTC (link)

Well, sorta :-) The site asks you a bunch of questions about your lifestyle, activity level, age, weight, and your goals, and it comes up with the magic numbers for how much of what you should eat and when. It also gives you lots of info about portion sizes, where foods fit in which categories, and how to maintain and manage all this stuff. I have to say I learned an awful lot. It also provides all the necessary tracking tools. I'm pretty sure that's worth some money to many people :-)

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	liralen 2008-03-03 06:32 am UTC (link)
	Hooorah! Yay for doing that you want to do!! It's so cool that you're sticking with it. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	outintexas 2008-03-03 05:50 pm UTC (link)
	Well, it's only been TWO WEEKS so far... we'll see how long it really lasts... :-) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	streamsandpools 2008-03-03 09:51 am UTC (link)
	Wow. I'm really impressed. So cool that you're sticking with it despite how much of a shift in lifestyle it demands. Well done you. (Reply to this)(Thread)

outintexas
2008-03-03 09:15 pm UTC (link)

Talk to me in two months, and well see how much I'm "sticking to it". Of course, it looks like I'm going to hit my goals ahead of schedule, so I'm not sure what I do when I need to transition to "maintaining" :-)

But yeah, it's been a dramatic shift.

I STILL need to figure out when and how to fit recreational reading time in, though... this is the biggest drawback!

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	streamsandpools 2008-03-03 10:03 pm UTC (link)
	Well, that will be the next challenge, yes. But whatever happens, you've done a great job so far. The key will be finding a regime that's sustainable for you in the long term, which will probably be some combination of old and new. Good luck! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	beckyb 2008-03-03 01:00 pm UTC (link)
	It's really nice to be able to take care of yourself in these ways. Preparing, cooking, choosing, enjoying. I'm trying to do things like prepare whole grain things on the weekend that I can use as fast food during the week. Otherwise, I definitely run out of time. (Reply to this)(Thread)

outintexas
2008-03-03 09:18 pm UTC (link)

I'm already cheating by buying pre-bagged lettuce for the salads, and pre-diced celery and red/green/yellow bell peppers for the salads, pre-portioned baby carrots, etc, etc. Never mind the pre-cooked salad chicken strips to put on the salads. But over time, I'll move towards buying the real thing, and preping it myself. I'm already doing that with grapes (washing them and counting them out into individual serving sizes in those ziplog "snack size" baggies), and doing the same thing with the chicken tenders (trimming them, measuring out portion sizes, and sipping them up in individual baggies ready to use). That way I just spend an hour or so a week doing prep-work, and the rest of the week, my meals can come together a lot faster.

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