Don't Beat Yourself Up

The alternate title of this weeks entry would have been how to gain five pounds in a week....but the reason I didn't have a post at the beginning of this week was because I needed to give myself a few days to cool off, clear my head, and try to remember that it's not always about the scale!

As I posted in the last entry I tried a week of low carbs to shock my system and start weight loss again. Well, this week was low glycemic.

The low glycemic diet allowed me to add fruits and whole grains back into my diet.

My daily range was 1700cal 148g protein, 191g carb, 47g fat

I could eat carbs again but I had a list that I needed to chose from, I couldn't just go balls out and eat what ever I wanted.

Acceptable carbs included fruit (except bananas, dates, figs), sugar-free applesauce, light yogurt, beans (all types, black, kidney, chickpea etc.), other veggies like squash, beets and artichokes, some grains - limited to one meal a day (100% whole wheat bread and tortillas, oatmeal, sweet potato).

Here's an example of meals I ate for Low Glycemic week:

Monday:
Breakfast
Hard Boiled Egg, 2 large
Cottage Cheese, 2% Milkfat, 1 cup (not packed)

Lunch:
Apples, fresh, 1 small (2-1/2" dia)
Baby Carrots, raw, 10 medium
Guiltless Gormet - Blackbean Chipotle Wrap,
Romaine Lettuce (salad), 2 cup, shredded
Cider Vinegar, 1 tbsp

Dinner:
Cauliflower, cooked, 6 flowerets
Chicken Breast, no skin, 4 ounces
Bread, whole wheat (including toast), 1 slice
Butter, salted, 2 pat
Cornbread, 1 oz (I cheated with this... sister made some corn bread and I love the stuff!!)
Milk, nonfat, 1 cup

Snacks:
Mixed Nuts, dry roasted (salt added)1/5 oz (I wasn't paying attention when I grabbed nuts for a snack...last week nuts were ok, this week I need to watch my intake because I could only have 47g of fat.)
Apples, fresh, 1 medium (2-3/4" dia)

Tuesday:
Breakfast:
Quaker Instant Oatmeal, prepared with water, 1 Packet
Quaker Instant Oatmeal, honey nut, prepared with water, 1 packet,
Yogurt, plain, low fat, 1 cup (8 fl oz)

Lunch:
Chicken Breast, no skin, 0.5 breast, bone and skin removed
Oranges, 1 fruit (2-5/8" dia)
Cauliflower, cooked, 4 flowerets
Bread, whole wheat (including toast), 1 slice Applesauce, unsweetened, 1 cup

Dinner:
Bread, whole wheat (including toast), 1 slice
Skippy Natural Creamy Peanut Butter, 2 tbsp
Trader Joe's Chicken Tikki Masala (1 Tray), 1 serving (I screwed up here. I was tired, didn't feel like cooking so I had a frozen dinner which had white rice.

Snacks:
Cheddar Cheese, 1 oz
Dill Pickles, 2 spear
Apples, fresh, 1 large (3-1/4" dia)



Cons of this diet:
1. you give me an inch... I take a mile. I admitted last week to my carb addiction now looking back at what I ate it's no wonder I gained some weight back. Towards the end of the week I made a big batch of whole wheat pasta with roasted peppers and onions added to the sauce and sweet Italian turkey sausage... sounds yummy right? Well I made it with the hopes that my sis would eat the left overs, but I forgot sis was leaving town so I had multiple portions of left overs that I wasn't going to let go to waste.


Pros of this diet:
1. It's more realistic.

2. You eat a larger variety of healthy foods.

3. Once again it made me look at my carb addiction and it made me realize that while I can still eat carbs I need to make an effort not to allow them it to be a part of every meal I eat!

Results of this diet:
Truth. I gained some of the weight I lost on low carb week back. This however should not be viewed as a reflection of the diet, but just proves my theory once again that the low carb diet does not work. As I said before when you go off of it you gain the weight back! I talked to one of the girls at my bootcamp who is doing the same diet and started before me. She told me she also gained some weight back after she got off the low carb week. I felt better hearing this knowing it wasn't just me. She also told me that once she stuck to the low glycemic diet she did see the weight fall off again after a little while. Ahh, the joys of dieting. I swear it's a rollercoaster some days.

I allowed myself a cheat day on Saturday because I went to NYC to see this amazing exhibit at the Morgan library about Jane Austen...yes I'm still fan girling. I'm allowed a cheat day every two weeks so it was convenient mine fell when I went out of town. I had what I normally had for breakfast since I was on a bus to New York...I ate two cereal bars and an apple. I allowed myself a vanilla latte once I got to the city because it was ff-f-f-f-ffreeeeezing last Saturday!! For lunch I ate at Franchia a vegetarian Japanese tea house. I highly HIGHLY recommend it. Everything was delicious even the $5 cup of plum tea. I had crispy scallion pancakes and spicy Malaysian ginger "chicken" fried rice, I tried a sesame and seaweed porridge but it was just "eh" not bad but not great so I only had a few spoonfuls. The meal was more than filling, probably more than I should have eaten, but damn did I enjoy every bite!

However that was where the eating should have ended. But I was craving pizza. When I got back home around 10 at night I hadn't eaten since lunch except for some nuts and an orange on the bus. I wasn't really hungry, but I told myself on cheat day I was having pizza and damnit!! I wanted pizza! So I had pizza.

And boy did I regret it. But Sunday the scale had shot up, all the weight I lost the week before was back and then some. I was freaking out...did one cheat day hurt me that much??! Did I really eat too many carbs last week?? I hit the gym on Sunday and I've worked out every day since. I beat myself up for a little while about my weight gain...I just didn't know what I did wrong. But as I said above I talked to one of my fellow dieters/bootcampers and she assured me that the weight would probably come back off soon.

I am happy to report this morning that when I weighed myself that I was back with in 1-2 pounds of where I was at the end of my low carb week. It's difficult to tell on my dial scale.

Another Lesson I learned this week.

DON'T GIVE UP! I'm not going to give up, I'm not going to stop eating healthy (even if I thought about if for a split second then I said to myself..Um WTF was that thought coming from have you gone mental!?) No, not me I'm not giving up! I have to keep thinking of the bigger picture I might have a bad day and then a good day, but I know over all I always have more good days than bad. I'm healthier and happier than I was before so I'm just going to keep working hard at it every day.

I'm going to try my best to stop obsessing over the numbers and deadlines I've mentally set for me reach my goal and just remember that this isn't something that has an expiration date once I reach my goal. This is for life!


This week's work outs:

1/25 Mon - Rest

1/26 Tues - Boot camp and indoor soccer

1/27 Wed - Boot camp

1/28 Thurs - gym: treadmill jog 3 miles, abs, weights

1/29 Fri - Bootcamp

1/30 Sat - Rest - went to NYC to be a Jane Austen Fan Girl

1/31 Sun - Gym: treadmill jog 2 miles, elliptical 10 minutes high resistance, abs