Have you ever heard the saying, “If you fail to plan, then plan to fail”? Well, that pretty much sums up my second week on the diet. So here’s what happened.
Week’s Weight Loss/Gain: Gained 0.5 pounds. I’m lucky it wasn’t a lot more.
Total Weight Loss to Date: Lost 5.0 pounds.
What I Ate: Normally, I plan out meals the day ahead so my blood sugar doesn’t drop to the point where I stuff my face with anything in eyeshot. I track exactly what and how much I eat so if I gain weight, the problem can be identified. I started the week out well and by Thursday was down 3.0 pounds. Then I became lazy. My husband went out of town so I stopped planning meals and stopped tracking my intake. That was the first of many bad decisions and things just went downhill from there. So here’s what happened:
The Good: I had the same breakfast as last week, except I substituted quinoa for oatmeal. Lunch was the same very large salad. Dinner was a huge pot of soup made with kale, beans, onions, tomatoes, carrots, and celery. However, I used a different brand of vegetable broth and didn’t check the sodium content – which was substantially higher than my usual brand. After waking up feeling puffy and with swollen fingers (this happens almost every time I eat at a restaurant), I pulled the broth carton out of the trash and figured out what happened. But rather than freezing the rest of the soup to eat after I finished the diet, I kept eating it all week because it was a REALLY good pot of soup.
The Bad: I guess I should mention the bagel with cream cheese here. I only had half of it, but it was a super huge one and thus equivalent to a regular-size bagel. And the cream cheese was spread on one inch thick. I’m not kidding – it was such a ridiculous amount that biting into the bagel caused the cheese to ooze out the back and drop off in hunks onto the plate. Did I discard all of that extra ooze? Of course not! Oh, and I washed all of this down with a Diet Coke, which always seem to trigger even more food cravings for me. Let’s just say after that numerous poor, impulse-based food decisions were made.
The Ugly: When dieting, going out with friends for a night on the town gets put on hold. But there are some things that can’t, and shouldn’t, be ignored – like a birthday celebration. Before the festivities, I visualized my well-behaved self, raising a glass of ice water to toast the milestone. I think you can guess how this played out in reality. I hereby invoke my Fifth Amendment right to remain silent……..
Did I Cheat? Umm….yeah. In addition to the above transgressions, I ate more than my allotted share of fats and starches. I also under-ate fruits and vegetables which I now realize causes weight gain. Dr. Fuhrman explains why this occurs in Chapter 5 of his book Eat To Live. You might want to check it out.
Did I Feel Hungry? Yes. You would think that with all of the cheating I did last week, that I wouldn’t feel hungry. But eating low-nutrient density, high fat, processed foods is what actually causes hunger. Dr. Fuhrman explains the difference between “true” hunger and “toxic” hunger in Chapter 6 of his book. Definitely worth a read.
Did I Exercise? Only twice last week. I actually drove to the gym on Monday but they were closed due to the frigid weather. Even though they re-opened on Tuesday, I simply didn’t want to go out in the cold as the wind chills were still -30. Apparently it was also -30 inside my house, as I didn’t use any of the numerous at-home exercise videos or equipment to workout!
Any Problems Eating the Food? As I reported in this post last week, eating oatmeal caused an increase in my asthma symptoms and post-nasal drip. This week, I substituted quinoa for oatmeal and the problems went away. However, later in the week after the birthday episode, my nasal cavities were inflamed and runny again which I think was caused by the barley/hops in the beer I drank. Easily remedied as I won’t be going out again any time soon.
How Am I Feeling in General? Not nearly as good as last week. Although my nose and lungs feel much better after substituting quinoa for oatmeal, I felt rather sluggish as a result of little exercise and the various cheats mentioned above.
Will I Do Anything Differently This Week? I certainly hope so! Of course hope has nothing to do with it. Planning does. I already did the grocery shopping and meal planning. Now I just to make sure I get my butt to the gym!
Check back on January 20th for my results on Week 3 of the plan.
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