Wednesday, September 10, 2008

149.6 - First week DONE! And some diet minutia

Well, almost done. Today is day 7 on the Crack Diet, and with it ends the low-carb week.

Please have a caffeinated beverage nearby, as the next few paragraphs may put you to sleep.
The next 7 days are called "Cycle 2" and it's not like I get to eat whatever I want, but I do get to start adding in good carbs. Some days are called baseline days, and I get to have two carbs before 3 p.m. Other days are called carb down days and I eat only one carb before 3 p.m.--this is when we tell the body to go use up excess stored fat, which is going to be important for me to remember if I'm whining about wanting more carbs that day. Cycle 2 has 3 baseline days and 3 carb down days.

The 7th day is a carb up day, when I get to eat two carby junk food-type meals at the end of the day. Carby junk food = pizza, pasta, bagels, carrots (as if I'd eat carrots when I could have pizza), french fries, corn, chips & snacks, crackers, and bread. After the 3rd cycle, I can have ice cream, pastries, alcohol, and cake on carb up days. Woohoo!

Weeks 3 and 4 have two carb up days. After this week, the next three are going to seem like I'm on a food vacation.

I went to the health food store last night (with the kids--it's a small store and I was the only customer there a half hour before it closed, so I had to bribe them with organic jelly beans--what else in a health food store?--to make sure they behaved) and bought Ezekial bread, stevia sweetener, and Bob's Red Mill 10 grain hot cereal.

The list of good carbs is short--black beans or lentils, oatmeal, cream of rice or wheat, Ezekial bread (flourless/millet bread), grits, potato of any kind, and rice. But seriously, any carb at this point is a good carb for me. I hope the Ezekial bread is good. I've never had sprouted/flourless bread. At least I'll get 2 pieces and can make a sandwich if I want to for lunch.

OKAY! Wake up now.
So last night I ran 1 mile and walked 1 mile, and did day 2 of the push up challenge. Still very light on the energy front by evening. Tonight I'm going to try a weights class and hope I don't pass out, ha.

Vickie asked in yesterday's comments an interesting question (she usually has interesting questions--I love how her mind works). Am I building a foundation or am I using this program as a means to get to a number on a scale?

I'd like to think the former. A foundation of no more night eating and reckless snacking is really necessary if I'm going to stay off the merry-go-round of losing and gaining. I'd pretty much already established healthy eating habits, like having protein more often (though not necessarily with every meal) and eating 3-5 veggies/fruits each day, and eating regularly. Drinking water's not an issue for me (I drink at least 3 liters a day, and usually more if I work out).

But to be honest--I am doing all this to reach a number on a scale (and on my clothing tags). What can I say? I make progress when I've got a carrot dangled in front of me, and when I have a very specific plan laid out for me (remember the weights class free t-shirt? which I got yesterday--even though they were out of mediums, dang it, and the large is too big for me :).

It's going to be interesting to see if, after I make it through these 8 weeks and I am (fingers crossed) at my goal weight, will I play Russian roulette & start messing with the maintenance program like I did earlier this year? We'll see.

My biggest hope is that I can once and for all conquer my night eating habit over these 8 weeks. I think if I can do that, then I'll be okay.

Interesting to note that next month (October already?!) will mark my one year anniversary of hitting 155 pounds. LA Weight Loss promoted the idea that if you can keep your lost weight off for one year, then you have a better shot at keeping it off.

If I weigh less than 155 next month, then I think my odds are even better.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can see Vickie's point, but is it really so bad to want to see that number on the scale? Is it any different than trying to beat a number on a stopwatch? It's a goal - something to shoot for. I'm like you, I need a carrot in front of my face to keep going and trying to reach that certain number is a concrete way to tell if I am going in the right direction.

Don't get me wrong - I admire Vickie A LOT and I guess I'm just kind of playing devil's advocate here.

I'm glad you were honest enough to admit that Yes, sometimes it IS about the number!

Vickie said...

I am sure your weight will go down to where you want it. So, don't think I am saying it won't - what I want to say is if you kick the night time eating to the curb I think the 8 weeks will be totally worth it - just to accomplish THAT - because NO night time eating is HUGE.

Go Laura GO.

Laura N said...

Nope, Jill, it's not so bad at all.

Vickie, I totally 100% understood where you were going with your comments yesterday. And didn't think for one second you were doubting that I can get there. I really appreciated the question and thought it was worth posting about.

debby said...

Hello girls! That was so funny about having a caffeinated beverage nearby. But I am really interested in all this stuff so I am glad you are sharing it. So, when you say you get to add good carbs, and you don't list fruit, does that mean you are going 3 weeks without fruit??? Just the thought of that nearly sends me into a panic!

I bet they'll have that ice cream in Indiana before long. Its in Safeway, and the Shrivers are involved! Mmmmm...no pudge brownies...I might have to have one of them...hey with a little of that ice cream on top...oh, no, there goes my weight loss for the week!

And to put my two cents worth in on the discussion of building a foundation vs. the dangling carrot of 'looking good,' my deep down motivation in continuing to try to lose weight is 'old age health.' It is really so sobering to me to think of how easy it would be for me to become immobile, to develop heart disease and diabetes, and worst of all to have a stroke. Even now, at my age, having various aches and pains every day that would be less if I was carrying less weight...BUT the dangling carrot is my 'up front' motivation. I am not happy with how I looked in the last two pictures that I had taken.

Great blog, Laura. Let me know about the fruit if you think about it.

Heather said...

congrats on making it through the first week! I hope the 2nd goes just as well.

Marcy said...

YAY on getting through the first week!

ROFLMAO at bribing the kids with Jelly Beans, I had to do that today in the grocery store hehe.

Anonymous said...

Good job on the week!

And I'm all about bribing the kids at the store. I always try to shop when Shoo is hungry and he'll eat cheese or pretzels or whatever I've packed or bought and let me shop in peace LOL.

Lori G. said...

I see both points; you do need something to motivate you along the way but I also think that as you work this program, you'll see the benefits of less carbs, etc. In short, feeling healthier will encourage you to live better.

Look at it like how you got into running; you didn't start out with two miles -- it started out slowly and then you worked your way to more miles. And as you did this, you felt better and WANTED to run. So that's how I see you with the food. You started for this reason but along the way, you found more reasons to keep with it and it became easier in some ways.