As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to go "all in" and try something new on the diet and exercise front. I chose a plan from Self Magazine touted as a "cleanse with food you could chew" that was packed full of "power foods" that help you do more than just lose weight - but be healthier overall.
I've had to do some minor modifications (swapping a few ingredients, swapping a few meals around, etc) but have tried to remain pretty true to the intent of the plan. I wanted to try some new things because I find that I get in a rut with my eating whether it be healthy or not healthy. What I had been doing (eating slightly less of the crap, but still drinking full octane Coke) wasn't working. So here is a journal of my adventure on this diet:
Monday:
Breakfast: Smoothie with frozen peaches, greek yogurt (because I don't eat tofu which is what the recipe called for), unsweetened vanilla almond milk, turmeric and 1.5 tbsp. of almond butter. Overall, I loved the peach flavor - hated the almond butter flavor with it. Choked about 3/4 of it down and did not feel satisfied.
AM Workout: Misread the workout - it was supposed to be 1 min intervals with 30 seconds lighter intensity in between. I did 30/30. That is about all I can run quickly anyway. I had a couple times towards the end where my "rest" intervals got a little longer. I definitely need to run more. I went out in the neighborhood and ended up going a little longer than the workout called for, but at my slow pace it was only 2.6 miles so I called it good.
Lunch: I was supposed to get a Starbucks Hearty Veggie Salad, but the Starbucks in Columbia didn't carry salads - only pastries and paninis. So I went to Chipotle and loaded up a salad with a little brown rice, chicken, black beans and a ton of tomato salsa. I missed the cheese and sour cream, but again - so hungry I didn't care.
Snack: Pear (was supposed to be half and with some almond butter dipping, but after the poor experience with the almond butter in the morning, I chose to just eat the pear). I could have used the protein, but the pear was delicious and saving a half a pear is a pain in the ass.
Dinner: Shrimp tacos with blueberry avocado salsa on corn tortillas - they were ok. Better since I was crazy hungry.
PM Workout: 8 workout cards; 12-15 reps each x3 w/ no weights; strength work with multiple muscle groups; Many were a struggle. Don't think I did all of the required reps.
Had massive headaches from going cold turkey on the Coke. I also have never felt so starved on a diet. I was not a particularly happy camper. I drank some water, but made note to self to drink more.
Tuesday:
Breakfast: Jamba Juice smoothie was called for, but we don't have that chain so I made my own strawberry banana one that was along the same lines.
AM Workout: Plan was for 45 min of whatever moderate exercise I wanted. I needed to get my butt back on my bike so I headed out around my neighborhood for a couple interchange repeats and on home for a total of almost an hour and 12 miles.
Lunch: Made Asian chicken cups that were awesome. I was very hungry and they tasted very good. Yum! After 3 days, one of the few recipes I would repeat.
Snack: chickpea, tomato, red onion tossed with balsamic vinegar and a little oil. It was ok. Again, when you are starving you are less picky.
Dinner: Steak with mole sauce; supposed to make a corn salad and realized I didn't have corn. Doh! So I roasted some asparagus. I had made some elbow macaroni for my daughter and had a very small bowl of that to stave off the hunger pangs.
PM Workout: Was supposed to do the cards again, but this time with a light weight. Had a bunch of personal crap to deal with and blew it off.
Headaches abated by later in the day. I tried to drink more water. Had to pee a lot.
Wednesday:
Breakfast: Mega Green Smoothie - spinach, banana, pineapple, nonfat plain yogurt - the taste was ok, but the texture was a bit off. I choked most of it down.
Workout: 5 x 30 seconds of each of 5 plyometric moves (high knees, burpees, jump squats, butt kicks, and jumping lunges) with 1 min rest between. Threw up part of my smoothie midway through. Not fun.
Snack: Called for Kind granola blueberry clusters, but store didn't carry it so I got some Bare Naked granola that looked similar. I had it with a little bit of vanilla almond milk. I'm not really a milk drinker (of any kind), but it was nice to have the cool milk with the granola. The dried blueberries in it were a nice touch.
Lunch: "Bento Box" of 2 hard boiled eggs, 4 Wasa whole grain crackers, cup of carrots and cup of cucumbers and some hummus. Very portable to the office. I could see using this one another time
Dinner: Salmon and kale cooked in this water, OJ, soy sauce, ginger liquid served with barley. Didn't love the kale, but mixed it all together and it wasn't awful to eat.
Spent the evening teaching my daughter's Girl Scout troop (6 gung ho nine and ten year olds) all about Staying Fit - fueling their body, understanding nutrition labels, challenging them to get 30 min of cardio exercise 3x each of the next two weeks, learning about controlling stress, journaling feelings, we did a little yoga, etc. Great fun, but no real workout. Hope I passed along some things to think about. None of our girls are heavy, but several have parents that fight weight issues.
I think I may have been eating a lot of extra calories that I hadn't realized in the past months - enough to explain putting a few pounds back on. I thought most of it was in soda, but apparently my serving sizes have crept up too or I wouldn't feel so freaking hungry this week.
It will be nice to knock a few pounds back off and hopefully remain more mindful of the amount of food I'm consuming while making sure to be more consistent with my workouts. Will be interested to see how this experiment plays out. I have to admit I'll be pretty freaking pissed if this doesn't come out in my favor on the scale.
Check back in a couple days for another update.
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