I made a "lifestyle change" yesterday and we'll see how it goes. I'm roughly trying to do the "slow carb diet", but I'm not going to obsess about doing it 100%. I think the big thing for me is to try to eat low-GI (glycemic index) foods, since I know I've always had blood sugar sensitivities. When I had my medical procedure last week, I had to fast due to the anesthesia, and right before the procedure, they tested my blood sugar (I had no idea they were going to do that). It was 121. 130 is diabetes, my friends. So I'm kinda "pre-diabetic" at this point, and that is super-no-bueno.
I had lost a lot of weight without much exercise, back in 2007. The key then was that I tracked everything using sparkpeople.com. But now it's 2013, and there's got to be a better way! Unfortunately, sparkpeople has an iPhone app, but it's not free so I'm not going to use it. (It's like they purposely designed their web site to be unfriendly to mobile phones as well, to force you to buy the app!) Instead, I have started using the free My Fitness Pal app. So far, I quite like it. Not only do you track your fitness (surprise!), it has a great food tracking section. You can even scan the barcode of the food's packaging to find items quickly. (Of course, you should be eating less packaged foods, but hey...) It gives you a pre-set nutrition goal (calories/carbs/fat/etc) based on your current weight and goal weight, and shows you progress as you go each day. For me, I'm not focusing on those numbers too much - I know I need to eat less than I was before this week ;) I'm also planning to eat more fiber and less carbs than they recommend.
So back to the Slow Carb Diet. It has five rules (quoting from http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2012/07/12/how-to-lose-100-pounds/) -
- "Rule #1: Avoid “white” starchy carbohydrates (or those that can be white). This means all bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, and grains. If you have to ask, don’t eat it.
- Rule #2: Eat the same few meals over and over again, especially for breakfast and lunch. You already do this; you’re just picking new default meals.
- Rule #3: Don’t drink calories. Exception: 1-2 glasses of dry red wine per night is allowed.
- Rule #4: Don’t eat fruit. (Fructose –> glycerol phosphate –> more bodyfat, more or less.) Avocado and tomatoes are excepted.
- Rule #5: Take one day off per week and go nuts. I choose and recommend Saturday."
I've got Rule #3 down (I never drink anything but water). I don't mind Rule #2. Rule #1 isn't too bad, though I do love rice and potatoes ;). Rule #4, I understand and agree but I love fruit. So... thank goodness for Rule #5. I am hoping I can hold to the other rules knowing that one day a week (which will be Saturday or Sunday for me, depending on our plans for the weekend), I can indulge the cravings.
(If you're interested in more about this diet, Gizmodo has an excellent summary at http://gizmodo.com/5709913/4+hour-body-+-the-slow+carb-diet )
I do make tweaks though... I had a handful of grapes with lunch, some nonfat Greek yogurt with breakfast, a small square of TCHO chocolate as a snack. Little things. So I may not lose 2 pounds a day ;) but I will hopefully also be able to sustain this.
Also, I went for a walk yesterday with the baby in his stroller. It was only a 45 minute walk, and it was slow, and it hurt after about 10 minutes. But it was something.
No comments:
Post a Comment