Another continuation of previous posts

If you've read my two previous posts you know I've been struggling with weight gain.  The hubs and I went to Vegas over the weekend and now I'm serious about getting this extra weight off.  it's amazing how a few pound weight gain can cause my pants to feel snug and me to feel awful.  I want to do something to jump start my loss so I was thinking about doing a several days of high protein and low to no carb.  What do you think?  If you were in my situation, what else would you do to jump start a loss?  My thinking is I would keep calories low, protein high and limit carbs to just a few veggies, maybe a salad or Elena's green chicken soup.  Any other suggestions?  I'm going to track my food and try and fit in some exercise.  This week is crazy as I have classes that I are finishing up (I teach at a community college) so I will have lots of final projects to grade.  

Any other advice would be most welcome.  

This is what I do when I need to lose a few pounds: I eat two eggs in the morning, followed by all the GCS that I want for the rest of the day.  I do this for 2-3 days and usually lose 2-3 pounds.  It also has the added affect of keeping me full and shrinking my stomach.  If you choose to do this, be very careful when you start to eat regularly again as your capacity will be diminished and you could easily end up with foamies. 

If this does not work for you, I would simply choose to eat 3-5 meals of lean, homemade protein (about 2-3 ounces) and green veggies. 

I don't "jump start" because I think the whole dieting mentality where you deprive yourself and then fall off the wagon and the deprive yourself just sets us up for failure. Instead I pick something to improve and then once I've got that good habit back, I pick another thing to improve.

Usually the first thing I find I'm slacking on is water. Then protein. Then I find I am eating too much sugar and cut back on that. Once I get my water up and my protein up and my sugar down, I find my calories naturally go down. But, if they don't, I might start restricting them deliberately

What help me the most was to start tracking my food. I had stopped for about 6 weeks and a few pounds started coming on. Once I started tracking, I realized where the extra calories were coming from and started eliminating those things. Then I dropped the calories a bit and started increasing my exercise back up. I had also started slacking in this area . The weight loss has been slow, but. I stopped the upward trend and my clothes are fitting like they used to. I have dropped about 3-4 lbs in the past month. I don't want to crash diet, because I don't want to lose muscle and water. Plus, this entire process is a journey and a change in lifestyle. It is not about crash dieting. If you are eating carbs, eliminate those. It is slower this far out.

gail

 

"What help me the most was to start tracking my food."

YES YES YES

When I stopped I was just so burned out and I just didn't want to do it. So I told myself all kinds of  lies to make it seem like it was okay and like I wasn't stopping so I could eat whatever I wanted without having to feel bad about it. But that's totally why I was doing it.

I am just not at the place where I can stop tracking my food. Maybe some day. But not today.

I started tracking my food pre-op and it really, really helped me to lose the required amount, plus even more. I continued post-op and just stopped for six weeks, when "life happened." What this experienced confirmed for me, is that this skill and habit is mandatory for me, to maintain my weight loss. It helps to keep me mindful. Some people may not need it, but I do. I don't want to wake up one day and be 20 lbs heavier. I have come too far to allow myself to backslide. I feel too good. Small price to pay for maintaining success.

I hope that you will be able to exercise again. That is the second component for successful long term maintenance.

Gail

I don't know... I've been not exercising for over a year and doing fine weight wise. I'm not happy but that's another issue entirely.

But I get to up my Topamax dosage. Whee!

I'm also a process person.  I stopped and saw where I could make changes.  Is i****er, lack of protein, to much sugar, snacking, no exercise and go from there.

Ms Shell

Thank you for all your help!  I am committing myself to journaling and keeping my carbs low, however, today I have had no "white" food, just veggies, milk and a high protein bar and already my carbs are up to 95!  How do I keep it lower?  I had the green vegie soup for lunch.  A protein bar and a skinny vanilla latte for a snack.  Shrimp and veggies for dinner, and that was 95 carbs!  Is this too much?  How do I keep my carbs lower?  Cut out even the veggies?  

In the great scheme of things, 95 carbs per day really isn't that much. I average about 80-100 carbs/ day. The higher range may be on days that I go to spin class. My protein is always about 100,sometimes a bit more.

how many carbs are in the protein bar? I had started eating them for breakfast, but when I started tracking, I realized the carb content was too high at 21, even though the protein was 21 grams and sugar was 2 grams. I went back to eggs or egg whites or plain Greek yogurt with a small amount of berries. It was more satisfying and I felt better after eating those foods, instead of a protein bars, which can be a trigger for me. I also eat a small amount of oatmeal from time to time.

i have a nonfat skinny latte everyday, because I like it, and it is another source of protein and calcium.  Some people would eliminate this, since milk has carbs. Soy milk and almond milk have less carbs, but you need to make sure that they are unsweetened.

lean meat and veggies are your friend. If you dropped the protein bar and substituted eggs or a protein shake for breakfast, your carbs would be reduced, plus you could allow for the latte. I did this during the losing phase and continued to lose consistently. It was part of my plan and I kept my carbs around 40-60/day.

i don't eat pasta, rice, or bread. Recently I have started adding a small amount of quinoa to my lunch meal, a few times/week.

Wishing you the best.

Gail