Happy New Year Everybody!
I’m not big on making New Year’s resolutions. And I never intended this blog to be too much about myself personally. However, I recently hit a breaking point that, for the moment at least, has changed my mind on that front.
What Prompted the Resolution
For many years, I constantly seemed to be gaining and losing the same 10 – 15 pounds. Not enough to cause me to do anything about it. When necessary, I could push myself hard enough to drop the weight to fit back into my vacation clothes.
I’m a prime example of someone who eats a very healthy diet, for the most part, but can still gain weight easily. It just takes eating a little extra guacamole at the dinner party, an extra handful of nuts in the afternoon, a little extra oil in the salad dressing, and the calories magically find their way to my thighs!
Somehow, I now find myself carrying around nearly an extra 20 pounds – ugh! I have hit my breaking point and am determined to take it off – permanently this time! And what better way to hold myself accountable than to publicly humiliate myself on this blog?
The Resolution
I’ve decided, for one month, to follow the eating plan in Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s Eat to Live book because it’s not a typical diet/weight loss plan where you count your calories and measure your portions – things that never worked for me long-term in the past. His basic philosophy is that if you eat as much as you want of a wide variety of mostly plant-based foods, you will lose weight rapidly until you reach your body’s ideal weight and keep it off for life – so long as you don’t go back to your old eating habits. Dr. Fuhrman’s weight loss plan is actually meant to last for 6 weeks, but I’ll start with one month to see how things go.
Potential Problems for Me Following This Plan
I won’t have any difficulty with the foods on the diet since they are what I eat regularly anyway. The part I will have a problem with is no oil, limited amount of nuts and dried fruit, limited carbs/starches, and absolutely no dairy and cheese. Even though I don’t eat it every day, I do like to have cheese a couple times a week – cutting it out completely will be difficult for me.
One other aspect of Dr. Fuhrman’s plan that might give me a little trouble is that he allows limited amounts of grains – something I mostly cut out of my diet after reading Dr. William Davis’ Wheat Belly. I will add wheat/grains back into my diet to see if the amounts allowed in this plan are small enough that I don’t experience a return of the drippy nose and asthma symptoms they seem to cause for me.
Misery Loves Company
In case you were wondering, yes, I am dragging my husband down this rabbit hole with me! Don’t worry – it’s not against his will. He wants to do this as much as I do. And instead of meeting up at the local watering hole, a friend and I decided to meet up at the gym instead. Our goal is to hit the gym together 5 times a week. Knowing both of us, my husband will be monitoring this development with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Accountability
From an accountability standpoint, I will create a post every Monday covering what my weight loss was for the previous week, generally what I ate, whether I cheated, whether I felt hungry or had any food cravings, whether/ how much I exercised, and generally how I’m feeling following the plan.
What I’ll Be Eating
The plan is broken down between foods you can have unlimited quantities of, those which are to be consumed in limited or greatly limited quantities, and those to completely avoid. Here’s what I’ll be eating:
Unlimited Raw Vegetables & Salad: goal is to eat one pound per day on average
Unlimited Cooked Non-Starchy Vegetables: goal is to eat one pound per day on average (including eggplant, artichoke, okra, onions and mushrooms)
Unlimited Beans, Sprouts, Tofu & Legumes: the goal is to eat at least 1 cup daily
Unlimited Fresh Fruit (not juice): the goal is to eat at least 4 fruits daily
Limited Starchy Vegetables & Whole Grains: limit to 1 cup cooked daily (including butternut and acorn squash, corn, white or sweet potatoes, brown rice, wild rice, rolled oats, millet, quinoa, barley, buckwheat, chestnuts, parsnips, turnips, whole wheat bread)
Very Limited Raw Nuts & Seeds: limit to 1 ounce daily
Very Limited Avocado: limit to 2 ounces daily
Very Limited Dried Fruit: limit to 2 tablespoons daily
Very Limited Ground Flaxseed: limit to 1 tablespoon daily
Off Limits: dairy, animal products, between meal snacks, processed foods, fruit juice, oils, salt
Goal
Obviously, my goal is to drop 20 pounds. Whether I can do that in one month remains to be seen. Dr. Fuhrman said that on his 6-week plan, the average weight loss is 20 pounds, but I’m only committing to 4 weeks right now. If this plan works as well for me as I hope it will, I’ll keep going.
So now it’s off to the races! Look for a post on January 6 to see the results of my first week on the plan.
Leave a Reply