Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Back to Calorie Restriction basics

Well, my basics that is.
I started my diet plan September 2007 knowing I wanted to do Calorie Restriction and also eliminate foods that I felt I overate and what led me to eat even more. At the time I didn't know just how bad these foods are for us. I educated myself as I went along. Glad I did.

I read all I could about Calorie Restriction and nutrition so I tracked my food with the cronOmeter and started taking supplements if I didn't get 100% every day. I lost weight pretty fast for about 9 months. Then it stopped. I didn't change anything with the plan stuck to it. Five months later I lost another 20 pounds. This leads me to January 2009. I reached 139 pounds, a 90 pound total loss. I still need to lose about 20 more pounds but the scale has not moved since January.

Since I had been reading blogs, vlogs and books on eating healthy foods I decided to try and change mine. I did lots of different things, even fooled myself into believing that if I ate raw I could eat things that I didn't eat normally but liked. This would be dried fruit. I started buying it, lots of it. This led me to really blow Calorie Restriction. I was still eating the healthy dinners.
I stopped eating eggs thinking of the Paleo diet, no cottage cheese, that Paleo deal again. Still the weight did not budge.
My weight fluctuated between 144 to 139. I never had a 139 day back to back. I joined a gym, I work out 3 days a week and have gained inches, did not lose weight. I bought a juicer and started drinking green juice. That didn't last long. I do like the juice and may drink it again but it just isn't something that I can stick with. Calorie Restriction is. I really do love it. It is so easy to do but, it is also easy to have the calories creep up without realizing it. I do believe that is exactly what happened to me. Hell, I know it is. Now the hard part, I have to go back to basics, my basics, where I was September 07. That is where I am right now. I have added eggs back in my diet. I now have 2 eggs for breakfast and that 1/2 cup cottage cheese for lunch. I have 2 fruits for snacks during the day. Then I have that healthy meal for dinner with a huge raw veggie either a salad or spinach. I am NOT hungry but I am struggling to not eat to much fruit after dinner, another bad habit I got into.
The weight is also changing and I am feeling leaner again. I was 139 for 2 days in a row. I may be speaking up to soon with this but I don't think I am. I feel confident the scale will be 138 tomorrow.
I will not be buying and new books on other plans. My lifestyle suits me as it is. While it may be named Calorie Restriction is sure doesn't restrict in food choices. The food is plentiful and wonderful. I am the one that refuses to ever eat grains and I am healthier for it.

I am a big time tea drinker and have discovered how to take my tea to work. I ice it and take two big jugs of it with me. Aaah peace.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

My day with Calorie Restriction

Food today has to be at or under 1200 calories. I know it is going to be hard to get myself to get past hunger pangs but I have to get myself used to less calories all over again. I have been putting this off far to long.

I will not eat almonds today. I will eat a cooked protein for breakfast.

Update:
Failed, I had a banana instead. They are just to easy and filling. Plus they are fast exit food and I like that.

I did have one boiled egg for lunch then 4 kiwis a bit later. They needed to be eaten, poor things were going bad. :-) Right.

I lost 90 pounds eating 2 eggs for breakfast and 1/2 cup cottage cheese for lunch, fruit for snacks and the usual cooked meal for dinner. I kept the calories at 1000 to 1200 for over a year then the calories started slowly creeping back up and I haven't gotten them under control since.
I now feel like I am ready, almost the same feeling I had when I decided to lose weight in the first place.
I read a great article about using the scale. It said to weigh yourself first thing in the morning then through out the day as we drink and eat. Well, I did that today, funny, I was also doing that when I first started CR. When I first started CR there was a difference of about 5 pounds from morning to night. Then it dropped to 2 pounds. Today I did like the article said and weighed before and after dinner. My dinner added only .6 pounds. Wow, fantastic. I had a huge raw spinach salad with a big serving of salmon. I never drink with food, bad for digestion, so that was a very accurate weight for my dinner. Interesting.
This morning I weighed 141.2 after dinner 142. Cool.
I always lose over 2 pounds from the night weigh in to the morning weigh in.
I won't be able to weigh myself through out the day tomorrow, gotta work. So the test will continue next week.
Food for today:
1 banana
4 kiwis
1 boiled egg
4 or more cups raw spinach
olive oil
honey
lemon
6 oz Salmon
2 cups blueberries

Tomorrow I work so I bet I eat more fruit. I work at my bosses house, nothing there for food so I take some water and an apple.
I sure hope the scale moves off this 139 plateau soon. It has been since January.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Calorie Restriction , clean out the pantry.

Calorie Restriction diets are as simple as a weight loss diet can get. It is based on reducing your daily caloric intake and helps in reducing stress on the immune and digestive systems and gain optimal health.
CR is counting the calories you take in and eating less.
You will be eating fruits, vegetables, and low calorie proteins.
There are no restrictions on the type of food you can eat as long as you pay attention to the amount of calories and nutrients.

Before starting CR, ask yourself a few questions.
Do you eat while on the go or do you eat at home?
What do you eat most of the time?
Will the new foods in your weight loss diet plan be suitable for this type of lifestyle?
Start a journal and write the questions and answers in it. If you don't eat at home think of how to take or buy CR foods.
If you're eating fast food most of the time that will have to change. This food is poison to your body, you need to think of it as just that poison.

Will you be able to eat a different type of food from others around you?
When eating in groups, how do they eat?
Will it be compatible with CR?
You can always take your own food to gatherings or look for foods that are CR. It is easy to spot.

Are you willing to change your home environment to suit CR?
This might be hardest to do. If there are children at home. They do need a different diet than an adult, once you realize you can't eat the same as they do you will be better off. You cannot reduce calories for a healthy child.
A wife or husband is another story, those calories most likely need to be reduced and food choices improved.

Do your current leisure activities fit into CR?
Do you eat a lot of junk food in your spare time?
Can you give up junk food?
Yes, give it up. It is poison remember.

Do you eat out a lot?
If you do, do the restaurants you go to serve food that fits CR?
Really go over that menu. Look for fish, no rice, no potatoes, fish with veggies, soup and salad.
A steak usually comes way to big. Get an 8 oz steak, eat half of it. No baked potato with toppings, veggies only. Get the bread off the table. Have a huge salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing.

Is your kitchen ready to make a lifestyle change?
Do you have enough time to prepare your food?
Cooking CR is simple, fast and clean. No big clean up afterward.
Lets start right now.
We are going to get our cupboard, cabinet, pantry what ever you call it. It is going on CR right now.
Get ready to lose weight and get healthy.
What you will need to do this task;
A garbage bag, a big one. Get a yard clean up bag if you have to.
Step one:
Open that cupboard, take a deep breath.
Look for cereals, boxes or bags of cereal. Yes, cereal, it is processed and full of sugar, unless your corn grows in flakes and your oats in little o's with sugar sprinkles, it is processed. Think of what you're putting in yours kids tummies if they are eating this processed gunk. Yes, toss them.
Canned soups;
If you can't pronounce the ingredients you shouldn't be eating it. The smell alone should stop you from opening a can of soup.
Look for organic soups if you have to have canned soup. But, never buy creamed soups of any kind for any reason.
Add these poison soups to the garbage bag.

Tomato sauce,
Yes, that's right tomato sauce. Read the label. It has HFCS in it betcha. It also says it is made from tomato paste. That's right and now you know how to make tomato sauce that is good for you. One can of tomato paste with 2 cups liquid of your choice, water, stock or broth, you have tomato sauce with no corn syrup in it.

Catsup, if it has HFCS in it. There are a few. Get one.
Toss the nasty one out.

Pasta;
Yes, pasta it doesn't matter if it says it is whole grain or not. I don't know any wheat that grows into a penne or a bow-tie. Yes, it is all processed.
This food is calorie dense and full of carbs. Do you want to get healthy and stay that way? Toss this poison in the garbage bag.
If you are grinding your own grains, then keep doing it. That is healthy, make your own whole grain pasta.
If you see polenta in there toss it too along with white enriched rice.
Brown rice is OK but it is high in carbs and low in protein. Keep it if the family has to have a starch. But eventually you will most likely not be eating brown rice.
Sugar.
Get rid of all sugars, brown sugar is white sugar with molasses added. There are some sweeteners that are healthy. Look for pure cane sugar and stevia. Turbinado is less refined but it is refined and in the bad list.
The best brown sugar is pure cane with molasses, full of nutrition and a wonderful flavor. Eat this in moderation.

Read all the labels in any cans that are left. If they have HFCS toss them.
It is time to fill the fridge with healthy greens, lean meats, and fruit.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Eating less, is it working for me?

I have been having great difficulty with Calorie Restriction lately. My calorie count has steadily climbed up to around 1500 plus for sometime now. I became aware of it after I started using the cronOmeter again. That and the dead give away of not losing any weight for months and feeling bloated after dinner. What more clues are there?

At first I blamed a small gain on exercising. I have since lost it, so I felt I was justified in thinking it was muscle gain. I do know my thighs have grown a full inch. They are now 19". Not a good thing in my opinion. Now I have to work to get that darn inch back off.

I then blamed my new way of eating on the more calories and justified it with what I had read about eating raw. That it is so healthy you don't have to be concerned about counting calories. This is sooo dumb of me. I am supposed to be doing Calorie Restriction, of course raw calories count, crap.

The raw diet also says to eat dried fruit, no wonder I love that way of eating. They are my binge foods and I know it. But I can have them so I started buying dates, raisins, plums, figs all dried and packed with calories. I still crave them like crazy. I want to find a food that will satisfy me so I don't crave the darn shrivled up things.

I really, really want to get back to CR like I was for over a year. I had never felt better in so many ways. My body felt lean, my energy and moods were high and I loved every single day. I am feeling very tired and non social again. Very moody. I hate it. Worst part I am always hungry even after I have eaten my CR dinner. Yes, I still make sure I weigh my main meals. Then I grab fruit or nuts until I am full. My calories were done for the day with the last meal. I am not supposed to be eating fruit for a snack after dinner. Bad food combination and boy can I feel it.

I am very unhappy with myself and have been for sometime. I want to get back that CR feeling again. This is going to be just as hard as it was almost 2 years ago. It will be just like starting over on a diet again.

I haven't gained any weight but haven't lost either. I am pretty darn happy about that. I know I haven't messed up my metabolism at least. I can lose weight on 1200 calories a day. Maybe I fixed my metabolism by eating more and exercising. If so that is a very good thing. Lets hope so.

I don't want to be posting anymore bad news about me and overeating. I have to get a plan in place. Am I going to stick with eating raw. I do love the green juice. It is loaded with goodness. I could go back to eating eggs and cottage cheese. I had such good luck losing weight when I was eating them. I really do like eating raw and I get plenty of protein from it. It just isn't that full feeling like from cottage cheese.

I need to make my own plan and stop reading books that say I can eat stuff I know I shouldn't .
That is exactly what I did to lose 90 pounds. I want to lose 20 more and stay with CR forever. I have to get back in control. Wow, do I love that feeling. I hate what I am doing to myself right now. I know it isn't all that bad. I still eat very healthy and keep the calories in check, just not CR.
Soon, very soon I will be there.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Calorie Restriction and Green Juice

I have been eating fruit only for breakfast for a few weeks now. I find I don't get hungry until around 2PM so that is when I have my juice for the day. Today I was out of Romaine Lettuce so I used up the last of my carrots. The juice today was 13 organic carrots, a finger of Ginger, and a whole bulb of Fennel. I finished it off with some cinnamon. Wow, is this juice every wonderful. Only one problem, it is loaded with calories. Over 400 calories. It pumped up my calories way to much for the day. It does fill me up, in fact maybe to much. Guess I should juice less of it.

I am new to juicing and find I don't like cleaning the darn juicer even though it is easy. So I tend to make to much juice to justify me making it.
I will stick with the Romaine, lemon, apple, and kale juice. It is far less calories than carrots.
I went way over my calories today. I made stuffed bell peppers and ate 1.5 peppers with green beans. It is 6 hours since dinner and I am still stuffed. My calories for today were around 1600. I sure wanted to keep them at 1200. Gone wrong again.

The scale was good to me again. I have been varying my calories intentionally to see if I could repair my metabolism so I could break a plateau. I need to lose the remaining 20 pounds. I think it has worked. I was 139 today, again. I have been as high as 142.
Of course I expect a gain after eating 1600 calories today. What an idiot I am.
Food for today
  • 1 Banana
  • 20 oz carrot juice
  • 2 cups blueberries
  • 1.5 bell peppers
  • 4oz ground beef
  • 2 cups green beans
  • 2 oz almonds
  • 1 tbs. flax oil
  • 4 cups green salad
  • honey
  • lemon juice
  • Calories around 1600
That is a lot of food. Tomorrow just has to be a better day.
I have my workout in the morning then grocery shopping. Hopefully I won't be starved when I get home to make my Green Juice. I need a 1200 calorie day so bad. Tomorrow will be it.

Plan it, make a plan and stick with it.

OK