Day four has been the roughest day so far. I think I am just throwing myself a little pity party because not being able to eat the foods I want is hard and no fun!
I realized today how crucial herbs and spices are to being able to stick to any healthy eating plan. Food has to have flavor and if I can’t use sugar and fat, then I’ve got to use spices.
The good news is that I was not as ravenous today. I suspect my body is adjusting to the new calorie count and that my stomach is probably shrinking a little.
The bad news is that I realized today there is no way that I will be doing this permanently. I am going to hold out strong for the seven days I committed to, but I have realized that I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life. I like food! I like making a delicious meal for my family and sitting down to eat it with them. I like having treats at the movies. I would rather run a marathon and be able to eat a brownie than limit what foods I am able to eat. I’ve just got to learn some moderation. Isn’t that always the answer? Moderation. I think I’ll give it a try.
One last lesson I learned today… cabbage gives me gas. Bad gas. That whole big batch of soup I made? If I ate it, I would have to go live alone somewhere, because no one would want to be around me. 🙂
Here’s what I ate today:
* Orange, banana, peach smoothie
* Homemade salsa and cucumbers
* Pear
* Zucchini, mushroom, chicken sautee
* Quinoa, chicken and frozen stir-fry vegetables
* Watermelon
Comments & Reviews
carrie says
Of course the cabbage soup gave you gas! It gives everybody gas! (so do too many dried apricots- trust me on this one) Moderation is the best diet anyone can go on. Anytime you deprive yourself of something you love, it's miserable. Life is too short to not eat dessert and really good food in general. I think food is one of the great pleasures in life and you should enjoy it! You can still have your brownies and cookies, or monkey bread, just not the whole pan in the same day 🙂 Don't worry about the baby weight so much. As a momma of 5, I've been there. It will come off, just a little slower. Be nice to yourself and don't forget to be so very very grateful for a healthy body that is able to have babies and feed them. It's a great blessing.
Jennifer {The Craft Patch} says
I'll trust you on the apricots. Ha ha. I think you're right… and in some ways I think moderation will be even harder than dieting. Just one piece of cake. Just one homemade roll. But I think I will be happier doing it that way for sure.
Thanks so much for your encouraging words. It is so easy to be hard on myself and I DO need to remember the amazing things my body has done and just be grateful.
Tharvey says
One thing that worked well for my husband and I before is counting calories. You can still eat most of the things you want, but you try to stay within the calorie goal (so you have to use a little moderation with the bad stuff). Sparkpeople.com is a great site for that (and free!), but I'm sure there are lots of great apps now too.
It's a little annoying to have to type everything in, but it can be a real eye-opener too! They have a recipe site, SparkRecipes.com, where you can put in your recipes & find out the nutritional info. We had one meal (Polynesian Pork Chops) we'd made several times & it didn't seem bad, but when I typed it in it was about 1,000 calories a serving! We tweaked it a bit (switched the pork to chicken, lowered the amount of pineapple and rice a little) and were able to halve the calories with a few small changes. Yikes!
Jennifer {The Craft Patch} says
I think this is the direction I am going to head after my seven days of no junk are over. I think it's a happier way to live! Thanks for suggesting Sparkpeople. I will definitely check it out!
And yeah… when you start counting calories, it does open your eyes. That little monkey roll binge was probably 2500+ calories! Ack!
Lisa Jacobe says
I commend your efforts! I've heard that there is a withdrawal period, but not sure how long it lasts given that I've never quit everything cold turkey like that. I suppose it's different for each individual and what they are addicted to. I need to get back to better eating and I keep thinking of different diets like Paleo, but it seems so restrictive, and I want to have a healthier lifestyle, not something that will be for a short while and I won't be able to sustain. And I keep seeing such awesome recipes and desserts that would never be considered healthy…darn Pinterest! For now I've decided to eat healthier during the week, but have some treats on the weekends. I will continue my search for healthy recipes that taste awesome (I think I may have 5 so far). I've also thought of making mini healthy changes every other week, like no more High Fructose Corn Syrup. You know how much stuff that is in? I'm finding out that it is in things I never thought of, like Campbell's tomato soup. Best of luck in whichever way your diet journey takes you. You never know, maybe we'll wake up tomorrow and be told that sugar is great for us, and brussel sprouts are actually not very good for us. 😀
Jennifer {The Craft Patch} says
Lisa, I hear ya. It's tough to find something that fits your permanent lifestyle. It's hard to give up the good stuff! Best of luck to you in your search. I like the idea of treats on the weekend.