As I begin this "journey" (doesn't that sound nice and fluffy), I thought I would keep track of my daily progress, what works and what doesn't and have a place to vent when it gets tough.
About a year ago, my friend Dr. Jean Paicurich in Stephenville, TX told me about this diet program she had adopted into her office. "Ideal Protein" she said it had changed her life and she had tons of patients that had done it. My first thought was "damn, business must be slow in Stephenville" and later "I can't believe that Jean would actually advocate something like this in her office....I mean we are serious Ob/Gyns, not diet doctors!". I put off meeting with the company until after my wedding (yay me) in March. I read some of the info, but realistically I was only agreeing to meet with them because I told Jean that I would. Anyways, I sat down with them at the beginning of the summer. When I heard about the program, and more importantly the science behind it, I was floored. I thought I was doing an okay job telling women for years that low carb diets are the only thing you can expect to work (mostly because I had done Atkins years ago....and hated it), but I didn't know enough to tell them HOW. I also thought every diet had to be miserable, you were destined to be hungry and bitchy, and eventually gain all your weight back since who can stick to any diet forever? I started having tremendous guilt that I had let down my patients for so long. I threw the "diet and exercise" phrase out there, then left them hanging. I started really paying attention to the numbers of patients every day that ask me my advice. As my practice has gotten older, so have I....... and my patients have grown right along with me. They figure I have the same struggles as them (clearly....at a size 12-14), so what am I going to do about it myself? I had shared my pregnancies with them, they saw me go through a horrible divorce, I sympathized with the inability to find a decent man at our age. We talked about our kids, and school and I even bared my soul about my exhusband's alcoholism and his physical abuse towards me. Why wouldn't they ask me about a diet? Well they did.....and I had nothing. Ideal Protein has given me that something.
Not to delve into the merits of the program, but the bottom line is it makes sense, it focuses on education, it is easy and at the end......people are healthier physically AND emotionally, and are educated to make better choices to end the cycle of weight gain/weight loss. That is not to say that I am never going to have chips and queso with a cold corona ever again, or that I am going to learn to love the gym and wake up at 5 am to go and work out. Are you nuts?? But with this you don't have to. There is a way to balance this with real life. And this time I am doing it for ME. What a concept. Not doing it for my abusive ex-husband who used to call me a "fat ass".....can you say resentment and passive aggressive eating on my part? I have a wonderful husband now who tells me daily how beautiful I am (I think he is smoking crack) and how he loves me the way I am (.....really good crack), I am at the best place in my life to be doing this. And lets face it.....I am not getting any younger. neither are my patients.
So, I made the call, did my research, signed up, invested money and waited to begin.
I was actually excited to start, not just to start losing weight (especially before my cruise in December....well maybe that was a little part of it), but because I started paying attention to my body and my habits. How bloated I felt, how I overate even when I was not hungry any more, how I was tired and felt awful. I started working out at lunch so that I could avoid eating out, and it was really the only time I could squeeze in, but I ache and I creak and my poor ankles and knees pay the price for days after. I also started looking at my food and rationalizing "is it worth it to eat you?" knowing that it was just going to be added on as fat to my butt.
I waited for the food to arrive, but just to prove to myself that I needed a "program" and I couldn't just go "low carb" with the stuff at my home and at the grocery store, I started Monday. Here is how it has gone so far.
Monday: Day #1
get on the scale for the first time in over a year. That does not say 194.5#......... No frickin way!!! OMG yes it does.
get on my app that I have downloaded "My fitness pal". that I have had for ages. The first message says "Angela Angel has not logged in for many months. She may need some encouragement" No, I need a swift kick in the ass which I just got when I stepped on the scale. I don't think I look like I weigh almost 200#. I am in total denial.
I go downstairs (I am off today) and grab some water.....not a diet coke.....and take a multivitamin. That's 2 things I don't do enough of. So far so good, right?
I have a cup of low fat cottage cheese for breakfast.Whee!
Maddie is home sick, so while she munches on hawaiian rolls smothered in butter, I have a spinach salad with blue cheese crumbles, steak and a boiled egg, another bottle of water mixed with crystal light. By this point I have a raging headache. Pretty sure its because I am lacking caffeine. But I march on.
I cook dinner and grill more steak, steam asparagus and have some sauteed mushrooms on the side. If only I didn't have to work every day and I could cook like this all the time. Mano has a glass of wine......bastard.
My app tells me my calorie goal is 1560 (remember I haven't started Ideal Protein yet) and I only got in 973! only 35 carbs, 115 of protein. (I think I remember Atkins you can have up to 40 carbs a day) I can do this!!!
Tuesday: Day #2 at work....in Dallas where we always have a bunch of crap laying around. Luckily I am in the O.R. most of the morning.....what I don't see won't hurt me :)
End up grabbing a mojo bar to eat while I am on the way. I know it has more carbs than I want but it has to last me from 6am to noon. Lunch is another salad and I keep pounding the water and crystal light including one that has caffeine so the headache isn't bad today. I break down and have 2 string cheese sticks in the afternoon.....mostly so I am not starving by the time I get home.......Mano is cooking and he is Greek.......turkey breast smothered in gravy that I try and scape off without him noticing, and his famous brussel sprouts....steamed and covered in butter AND bacon grease (because the butter isn't fattening enough?!). I try some portion control but am fully ready for disappointment when I log into my app. Surprise! only 884 calories, 37 carbs but only 79g protein.
Wednesday: Day #3 In Rockwall. Fed ex should make the delivery today. I so excited to see all the goodies and stop having to do math, and measuring. It is exhausting! I am so tempted to weigh myself but they say that a lot of the weight in the first week is water, so I don't want to get falsely excited. And I am peeing a lot. And all the talk about constipation......when did I poop? Will have to keep an eye on that. That may be an extra pound or so anyways, right? More like an ounce with what little I have been eating....sorry probably TMI for most of you, but I promised to be honest!!
Another Mojo bar for breakfast......it didn't screw things up too badly yesterday
Can of soup for lunch with 2 string cheese. Found Ruby Red grapefruit with caffeine crystal light. Not too sweet, tart and it helps my head. I am kicking butt!! checked my ketones (on a whim) and they are already moderate. Bring on the ketosis! What I have read is that it causes a decrease in appetite and euphoria.......I did wake up hysterically giggling over a dream I had.....about cake, potato soup and beer. I guess I do miss the carbs a bit.
Dinner was more steak (can we get a little chicken up in here?) and green beans. so how did I eat 1198 calories? 50 carbs? But the delivery came. I opened up the boxes like it was Christmas. No way! cheese protein puffs? chili? pomegranate bars? wildberry yogurt? All packaged and pretty and ready to go. Got lots more info too. So after I unpack the new blender I bought on Amazon I crack it open. It says the goal each day is 700-800 cal a day, 100 protein and ???carbs. Damn , I suck.
Tomorrow I start the real deal.
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