I've been following the 4 Hour Body diet pretty religiously for three weeks now. I can say I totally look forward to "Cheat Day." Last Saturday I had cookies, cheese (my all time favorite), extra drinks, ketchup on my eggs, and my favorite Trader Joes Meal MANDARIN ORANGE Chicken with rice and broccoli. Sigh. Sooooo yummy. By the end of the day, I was ready to go back to the plan.
Two possible problems arose this week due to travel and company coming for dinner. While I was on the road, I didn't have access to my usual egg dish. I chose to eat a protein bar for breakfast and had small packages of South Beach style nuts to nibble on. I must say it wasn't fun going to one of my favorite restaurants for dinner, THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY, and not being able to order what I wanted. I ended up getting chicken medallions, extra veggies, no rice and edamame for an appetizer. My dinner companions could eat bread and tortillas, but I valiantly abstained. Not going to lie. It was tough.
On Monday I had to host a dinner for one of my darling hubby's colleagues. No problem. I had a lovely pork loin which I rolled into Herbs de Provence, seared, then popped into the oven for approximately 50 minutes at 400 degrees. The aroma was divine. I also had nuts on hand for an appetizer to munch on, but not the usual cheeses etc. because why tempt myself? Or hubby for that matter? I made two different veggies thinking this would suffice, explained that we were on a low carb diet and the man's face literally fell. He lives for carbs as he is of Italian descent. Sheesh. Thankfully, I had some frozen french rolls in the freezer, so I bopped three into the oven and baked them alongside the pork toward the end of the cooking time. Noted this issue to myself and picked up another bag of mini rolls while at the grocery store just in case another carbaholic shows up at my place for dinner.
Due to my travels, I didn't hit the grocery store till Tuesday. I bought tons of fresh salads, beans, meat, salmon, the works. We had the chili lime grilled on the cedar plank Salmon last night over a bed of lettuce drizzled with white balsamic vinegar and fresh asparagus spears. Yummy. The week was very busy with Darling Daughter performing in her high school musical, GUYS AND DOLLS. I prepped a shredded beef dish which I served with lettuce wraps and "allowed for" condiments. Thursday we had a grilled flank steak with veggies and beans. And today I plan to serve balsamic chicken breasts, scallopini style with the usual beans/veggies. Usually by Friday I am over beans and meat. I can't wait till Saturday so I can eat bread, pasta, anything but meat and salad and veggies.
I'm not just trying to change my diet, I'm also working out. This week proved challenging because of my travels and a dentist appointment on Tuesday (yuck--can we say crown and total pain? Yes!). However, I managed to get to my favorite Zumba class again on Thursday and I used Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD on Wednesday. I was going to punt working out today, but after I took my measurements, I was motivated again. So I'll do another Jillian Michaels' Shred workout this morning.
And now, drum roll please, here are my stats:
Total Inches Lost this Week: 1.5 (half an inch off my waist! Hallelujah!!)
Total Inches Lost to Date: 6
Favorite Go-To Food: Sugar Free Jello and Kale Chips for the crunch
Favorite New Dish: Mexican Beef Lettuce Wraps
I blogged about my technological challenged at Petit Fours & Hot Tamales today. Come read all about my trials and tribulations with all things technological here. And today is a special day. This is my 500th blog post since I first started Digging Out of Distraction!! I'm celebrating the next 500 on Monday. Come join me for a trip down memory lane.
So how are you doing on your plans? Did you stick to it? What were your challenges to your will-power? Did you work out? Is your energy higher or lower? What are your favorite foods to keep you going when you are struggling to stay away from cookies and sweets?
14 comments:
I did pretty good this week. I cut back on the carbs and I'm feeling the difference. My jeans are definitely a little loose.
I hadn't realized how carb dependent I was until I started watching them so closely.
Thanks for inspiring us to get skinny, Christine. Off to the gym!
Aw, heck...you're making me feel inadequate. Couldn't we just do a virtual fake #RWA, and keep on eating?
Guess not.
I'm impressed!
Look me up at RWA...I'll be the chubby one.
Christine,
Way to go girl! I'm proud of you. I've been dieting...sort of...since the last part of last November ...about 4 1/2 months and I've lost 26.5 lbs. I don't exercise as often as I should and I have days when I slip over the allotted calories by a couple hundred, but I'm steady and I'm gradually losing.
RWA isn't my goal...getting healthier now that I'm over 60 AND having the doctor mention the word diabetic did it for me and keeps me going.
Keep it up and I'll drop by again to see how you're doing.
Sandy
Hi Adrienne: I am so glad your jeans are getting looser! That's awesome. And yes, I was pretty carb addicted. And cheese addicted. Big time love my cheese. My go-to cheat food is cheese and dark chocolate!
Glad we're getting skinny together :-)
Hi Diana! Join in the fun. I'm chubby now, but I plan to be skinny for RWA. Of course a virtual #RWA party might be just as fun and we'll have the added benefit of being able to wear our sweat pants and chow down.
I'll look you up at the conference for sure! I can't wait to meet you in person.
:-)
Hi Sandy: WOW you are doing so well with the weight loss!! Slow and steady wins the race, I say. I even told my doctor that "Rome didn't get chubby overnight so Rome is going to get skinny the slow and steady way." I'm so proud of you for taking the initiative to take care of yourself, Sandy. So often we put ourselves last and then we end up lagging.
We could call your Skinny Operation OPERATION SKINNY FOR THE MOONLIGHT & MAGNOLIAS!! Woot! And do you think we can get the "King of Zumba" to teach the ladies while we're there? Now that would be fun :-)
Are you kidding? That man will take ANY excuse to do Zumba :)
I hit a plateau only a couple pounds into weight loss despite strict calories, a 2xweek personal trainer and other aerobics. I've now switched over to varying my daily calories with high, low, med-high, med-low, etc. days. It's not unlike 4hour's binge day idea. After two days of higher calories and one of lower, the body rebooted and slowly weight is coming off again! It's kinda the same idea as the Wendie plan someone developed after WW didn't work for them.
Keep up the good work. I won't be at my goal for RWA, but I will be on my way toward it and looking better than I do now!
Hey Debbie, that is so cool. Let's see if the M&M organizers can work in a special exercise class for us :-)
I know how frustrating it is to plateau. That's where I think hi and low calorie days are the key. I know that I feel so bloated after my cheat day that I can't wait to get back on track, but the thing is I almost have to force myself to eat more because I'm not too hungry at all.
I think you will be lovely for the RWA Conference. And you'll be even more lovelier for the M&M in October.
I'm looking forward to attending both! And I plan to get skinny and stay skinny, too :-)
I don't know if you saw my post about meat glue...but after seeing that...I had no trouble going back to my veggie only diet for life.
Hawk
Keep up the good work, Christine! I'm proud of you for sticking with it. ;)
I've altered my eating habits to include more fruits and veggies, and started exercising this week. 45 minutes on the treadmill: Monday. 20 minutes on the bicycle: Wednesday. 45 minutes on the treadmill: Thursday.
Hopefully we'll all see results by crunch time. ;)
Hi Hawk! I must read your post. But I confess, I love my meat and the more the better. I'm a true carnivore. Love my veggies, but dig my protein.
I miss you!!
:-)
Kathy: You and I will be smokin' hot by the time RWA Nationals rolls around. We're on a mission!!
:-)
Congratulations to everyone. I want to lose weight but I'm not doing enough about it. I'm trying to cut back on portions and trying to stay away from food that are fattening, but it's hard. I love bread, rice and fried foods. I lost six pounds but then went on vacation and gained back about four of them. Christine I can't believe you make such nice dinners. I admire you.
I love your site. Enjoyed your blog.
Marilyn Baron
Hi Marilyn: I completely understand how frustrating it is to lose and gain and lose and gain the same weight over and over again. I just told my BF in Canada that I was feeling so good about myself about 5 years ago. Then my thyroid went wonko but my old doctor didn't believe me and went by old methods of looking at it. I gained back all I had lost PLUS. And I was working out and trying to lose weight--I just gave up. But my new doctor figured out what was going on with me, has been watching my thyroid and more like a hawk, and I feel a renewed energy. I am also pretty determined to lose this pudge and keep it off.
You might want to check out 4hourbody. It makes it easy because you're only allowed certain food groups, not having to count calories. There is no room for cheating except on cheat day (which I LOVE!!!!).
And thanks for the kind words about my cooking. I love to cook, always have. It is another creative outlet for me. If I hadn't developed a severe shellfish allergy, I would have loved to become the next Food Network star LOL. In fact, I may have to blog about it on PFHT--Confessions of a Wannabe Reality Food Network Star: Tales from the Culinary Crypt LOL.
Hang in there. Be gentle with yourself and just jump back on the wagon again. I told my BF that "Rome didn't get fluffy in a day, so Rome won't get skinny in a day either."
Hugs!!
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