Keeping the Weight Off: What are You Eating?

Healthy organic, dark chocolate peanut butter  balls (no processed sugar)

Nearly a month ago, I completed my 7 day detox, and after I posted about this GM Diet Plan, I received a lot of questions. As I mentioned in my post, my desire for doing something drastic for one week was to completely break my cravings for processed foods, bad carbs and sugar. Since I’ve done this detox before, I know that it works and by the 4th day, those cravings are gone.

I also know my propensity to jump right back into my old habits and after working so hard to break them, I really wanted to continue with wise choices while maintaining the eight pounds that I lost, and then do another concentrated push to lose a total of 15 that I’ve gained over the last few years. A book that’s been on my shelf for over a year is The 17 Day Diet: A Doctor’s Plan Designed for Rapid Results.

This is not about a “diet,” although in the first 17 days, you will lose weight, it’s more about completely rethinking how you eat food. It’s things we all “know,” but honestly, just haven’t wanted it bad enough to implement.

That’s me.

Watermelon smoothie (add spinach into any fruit smoothie and you will never taste it)

I “know” that eating fresh fruits and veggies, lean meats and fish are the wisest choice. I know that staying away from the bad white carbs (white bread, pasta, white rice, potatoes and sugar) is best for losing weight and healthy living, but I just haven’t wanted to give those things up enough to lose the weight.

For me, it’s still all about balance and enjoying those things in moderation, but in order to get this weight off initially, I have to be willing to go without my favorite carbs. I can’t just stop at small portions of carbs. I inhale my favorite carbs.

My goal is to adhere to a more unprocessed, low sugar, low glycemic index, low fat, food plan for 17 days (the first cycle) and then gradually add the carbs back into my food choices. The above healthy dark chocolate balls aren’t allowed until the second 17 day cycle, but my kids sure would love them. I am in a split home because all three of our teen sons are trying to gain 20 pounds and I would love to lose it.

Do you know how hard it is for me to make a huge pot of cheesy, yummy noodles and not scarf down the entire pot? Challenging, I assure you.

Dr. Mike provides excellent nutritional advice, and insists that you exercise. This is the most important area that I have been lacking and since I know how effective  Jillian Michaels – 30 Day Shred is, I’ve gathered up some of my girlfriends and we’re going to start it again tomorrow (if anyone wants to start with us). We are going to hold each other accountable through the pain and torture.

Did any of you join with me when I did this here on the blog? I felt great by the end of the 30 days and saw such a notable difference. Healthy eating choices isn’t just about food, but also about adding in an active life style. Again, I know this, but what I like about Dr. Mike’s particular innovation is that you keep the body’s metabolism “off balance” by shifting back and forth between metabolic food groups. It’s just smart science and it works.

Zucchini Vegetable Egg Casserole

After the 7 day detox, this feels like a treat, and since there is so much I can have, it will work.  The Dr. recommends to eat lots of his recommended “free” food, but the free foods are ones I don’t typically gravitate towards. Yes, I can eat all the veggies I want (not potatoes, boo hoo) and fish (those are “free foods), but unfortunately, I don’t like fish. I want to like fish. I pray that I wake up and crave salmon since it’s SO very good for me, but I don’t, so I have to be creative in other food choices.

Labrador bars  (peanut butter, coconut, and dates)

I spent the weekend at the beach with a large group of women and it was the first time ever that I didn’t feast on Oreos, chips and fries the entire time. We had a core group of women who typically adhere to a more plant based diet (with fish and eggs etc), and then we had the Girl Scout Cookie lovers, so it was great to challenge each other and try new things.

I loved having that fridge stocked with healthy eating choices because we woke up every morning to great fruit/spinach smoothies, yummy healthy choices for lunch and then we went out for dinner where I did enjoy my platter of chili cheese fries. It was the best of both worlds. Now, this doesn’t fit into my 17 day plan, of course, but I purposefully didn’t start it over the weekend.

 Sweet Potatoes, Butternut squash, garlic, onions, chili powder, cumin, onion powder and a kick of a few other spices.

Even for this non sweet potato lover, it was delicious.

If you need encouragement and someone that’s on the journey with you, that’s me. I can be that person because this is the first time in years, I have determined to make it happen and stop talking about it. It’s not easy and my lack of will power often tempts me, but once I made it through the 7 day detox, I knew I could do it.

Are you making any new food choices this year?

Do you want to, but just aren’t there yet?

So what are you cooking up for Tasty Tuesday? I can’t wait to be inspired because you can bet my family isn’t eating like I am.