I have been at a weight loss plateau for basically a month, and I knew I needed something major to start losing again. So I created my own "30 day challenge", if you will. (It conveniently began exactly thirty days prior to my upcoming trip to Mexico!) Yes, I know I sound like a health-nut freak show, but I'm a changed woman for God's sakes!! So each week I work out 6-7 days, adding running twice a week on top of my fusion-ing. I still count my calories, and generally maintain what I had going on before this month. However, each week I'm trying something a little more drastic to see how it goes.
Week one was a "no-sweets" week. Typically I'll have a couple chocolate chips after dinner, or a sugar free fudgesicle, or a little bite of a cookie at work if it's there...because no matter what, I always crave sweets after I eat. So that week I denied myself any kind of sweet, and had no added sugar at all. (sugar in fruit was allowed) And it went great! The first two or three days were rough, but after that I stopped craving it and also didn't want to cave in since I knew it was only a week. So far, so good.
Last week's challenge was "
Eating Clean". After my sugar-free week one, it was a relatively easy transition, since white sugar isn't a part of the clean eating diet either. I bought "Just the Rules", by Tosca Reno to see what all the clean eating hype was. Basically, it's just eating whole foods, no processed stuff, no added sugar, yada yada. Common sense. The book cost 99 cents online so it's all good. Most everything I've already been eating for the last three months qualifies as "clean", I just have to be more restrictive with little side snacks here and there, and read my ingredients lists more intently.
Anyways, it went really well, and I kept it interesting by going to the farmer's market and buying things that looked good, then meal/recipe planning around them. This week I got butternut squash, kale, apples, and bell peppers. Out of this I'm doing stuffed peppers, kale salads, kale chips, roasted squash, and just downing those apples because they are delicious.
This past weekend I also read Master Your Metabolism by Jillian Michaels. Her theory is basically the same as the clean eating lifestyle, but she is very adamant about eating all organic, and spacing meals out by 4 hours rather than 2-3. She's also a crazy lady about toxins in plastic, our drinking water, make-up, cleaning supplies etc. Sorry Jilly girl, I've gotta draw the line somewhere. My tupperware is just fine. Overall, I preferred Tosca's clean eating diet over Jillian's "remove all toxins, refuel with superfoods,
rebalance" mantra.
I think the positives of these types of diets/lifestyles are that certain food groups aren't eliminated, (i.e. carbs) and they make sense. Fruits and veggies = healthy eating. The negatives are high costs associated with eating super healthy and the demonization of all processed food. I really feel silly turning my nose up at string cheese, regular deli meat, and triscuits...and I catch myself doing that. Those things aren't bad. They just have some ingredients that are not "
clean" per some lady named
Tosca. (AHH!! NITRATES and NITRITES in our turkey!! We're gonna die!!!) Obsessing is ridiculous. Anything in moderation is fine. The thing with me though is that I am not good at "moderation". I'm getting better, but at this point it's best when I just cut things out. Sometimes I suffer for it, and I binge, but if I allow myself chocolate every day, I'm gonna eat A LOT of chocolate every day. If I eat Chipotle one week, I have to have it the next week, and the next week. Oh, and might as well throw in some greek food too. It's better just to say no.
Once I'm at my goal weight, I think I will be able to enjoy practicing moderation, since I'll be able to eat more calories for weight maintenance. But for now, being strict is good for me. And clean eating is pretty darn strict.
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