Apparently, I gave Colby my death flu. He's not nearly as whiny about it as I was but he seems to be going through a milder version of what I had. As a result, he's sleeping with his three favorite accessories: a hunter's orange hat, fuzzy scarf, and warm puppy.
Dinner was a success tonight, and I might modify the menu for this week because we had so much left over. This chicken stew didn't taste exactly like the one at the restaurant, so I'll be working on this recipe to make it even more flavorful, so stay tuned.
One of my new year's goals is (obviously) to lose weight. No January is complete without a new diet, eh? This time, my goal is to try to make things from scratch and cut out the processed junk (and make my own junk food ;)). This week's menu is a good start, though I felt the need to publicly profess my intent. The past two years included brave attempts of weight loss that lasted into March and even April, but my calorie intake was so low that I was tired all the time and eventually got so sick that I had to abandon my diet and then never got back on the wagon. My hope is that by making food from scratch with whole grains and lots of fruit and vegetables, I won't get crazy sick and will easily be able to stick to something that is delicious and healthy for the wallet as well. My guidelines are as follows:
No eating after 11 PM
Cook with whole grains whenever possible
Always have a vegetable with dinner
Fresh fruit every day
Drink a glass of water before anything flavored
I suppose I'll update with my progress here, since being publicly accountable will make me less likely to holy crap cheat. :)
3 comments:
In addition to the above guidelines, have you considered the following:
1) high protein intake (e.g. > 30% total calories) since such diets have a thermogenic and fat burning effect);
2) meal frequency (try 5 or 6 equal sized meals);
3) limiting refined and high-glycemic index carbs (bread, white potatos), you might cut starches and sugars for the last 1/5 or 2/6 meals;
4) increasing physical activity, as you cannot do this with diet alone (cardio + weightlifting on separate days is ideal);
5) DON'T STARVE YOURSELF! Instead, raise physical activity and meal frequency.
I've tried lowering my carbs and cutting sugar before, but I wanted to make small changes and stick with them so they become habits first. In principle, I should totally be doing all of those things (though, I ususally do eat smaller meals at higher frequency, but they're not completetly equal in size), but um... I'm busy. And by "busy" I really mean lazy. :)
Thanks for the thoughtful comment!
Julie, another thing to try is having a small salad before lunch and dinner. It's traditionally how ppl eat in BG and since my gandps have been here and we've been doing that, I notice the weight dropping faster. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber or shredded purple cabbage and carrots. But you eat less heavy stuff and get more fiber and veggies :)
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