carbs, how i love thee

[buenabuena]

I don't know if I've mentioned it on here or not, but my Very Stern Doctor put me on a diet three weeks ago to lower my cholesterol and take off some weight. If anyone wants to hear more about the details, feel free to follow the cut. I decided to keep a little record on here for myself, and if it helps someone else too, then awesome.

Comments

[trixieskips]

I'm on a "no white" diet myself and it is really hard because I am so sensitive to processed/refined stuff and my brain LOVES IT. I abuse it so my therapist is making me stop!

When I have wanted to lose weight in the past, I've always keep certain things around to help (and they do!):

1) Dried fruit in individual packets (boxed raisins are good). They feel like a sweet candy, but are healthier.
2) Frozen meals. Kashi makes some killer meals that are aroun 350 calories and have tons of fiber
3) Veggie soup. Weight Watchers has a recipe I used to make and it tasted great but had virtually no calories. Any veggie soup homemade will be pretty healthy (no mean, no beans, no carbs in it).

For me, I am always going to have bing-ey days. I can't stop them! But exercising some every day takes the stress off that and makes weight loss safer and easier. Some days I totally ride my ass off, but even just a walk around the block a few times burns calories.

[buenabuena]

Oh, I feel you on the abuse--my body is a total fiend for carbs and sugar. "Gimme gimme, it says! You are Irish and therefore BORN to love potatoes!"

I looked into dried fruit, but it came up high on the glycemic index chart I consulted so I haven't indulged in any just yet (*love* raisins, though!). I'll have to keep an eye out for the frozen Kashi meals--those sound like they would be super handy to have around. As for the soup, that's a great idea, and something that I could take to work fairly easily too. Thanks so much for the suggestions! It's nice to know that someone else I know out there is having to deal with this.

And yep, while I cheated a bit over my vacation weekend, I knew that I'd be worse off if I didn't. Sometimes you just need a little something extra to keep you going, right? I love walking, so I have mostly been doing that so far for exercise. Just need to get some proper workout clothes (that FIT) so that I can do a better job of it. :)

[trixieskips]

It sounds like you are doing great. If you get unmotivated, I suggest Weight Watchers. I really liked it there. It was cheap--$12 a week--and they had meeting to attend. The best thing is leaning what a healthy amount of calories looks like. For example, I didn't know that a serving of beef is FOUR ounces, not the eight or ten you see on menus

[buenabuena]

Wow--you're really doing great, sounds like. :) I'm not looking forward to the plateaus, to be sure.

(I don't even want to know what my BMI is right now. I've got a LOT of undoing ahead of me, after all of my fried-food and soda indulgence. Oy.)

And yep, I know that portion control is one of my biggest issues, so I bought some small bowls to help me "see" what a portion should like and regulate myself accordingly. So far, it's been working! Plus, my stomach has shrunk some, so I get full a lot sooner than I used to.

The "cheat" time is definitely a great idea--after days of eating the same stuff, it would definitely be fun to eat something a bit more tasty. If it improves the weight loss, even BETTER.

[trixieskips]

I am discovering that everything has sugar or white flour in it, so the last few days of eating have been kind of joyless. It is very hard. But I have a therapist who specializes in eating disorders and another woman with whom I am "working the steps," so perhaps at some point, I may not be as food crazy.