My friend, Anne, alerted me today that Chobani (which makes Greek Yogurt that I usually don’t buy because it is 20g of carbs in one container, vs. Dannon Greek Fit and Lite 8g of carbs)………is now making bite sized desserty type yogurt. I looked it up and nutritional content seems to be 13g of carbs per container– and 8g of protein. Not bad for a “desserty” treat that also acts as one of your proteins for the day. Thanks, Anne. Will have to try it.
If you want to lose weight, you have to do it the right way. Skipping meals, not starting your day out with breakfast, or following an extremely low-calorie diet is not in any way going to help you lose weight. Calorie deprivation only sets you up for yo-yo dieting, or “weight cycling.” Your weight will continue to go up and down for the rest of your life. You need to learn what to do to have permanent weight loss.
You might have initial success on one of these extreme diets, but the toll it takes on your body is not at all worth it. Extreme diets that promise big weight loss in a short amount of time cut out macronutrients like carbs and fats — which is horrible for your hormone balance and your metabolism. I do not worry too much about fats and my carbs are just kept low and healthy carbs is the way to go.
Some people want to desperately want to lose weight for a special occasion and figure that only a couple of weeks at 800 calories a day can give you results you want. And maybe it does…but when you go back to a normal eating pattern, your body is messed up. According to Jillian Michaels, “While you weren’t taking in enough calories, your levels of T3, the thyroid hormone that boosts your metabolism, plummeted and you slowed down your metabolism. Also, your response to insulin has taken a hit, so instead of glucose entering your cells, where it can be used for energy, your body lets it roam around in your blood, where it can cause trouble. Your sensitivity to leptin (which regulates appetite) is also reduced, so you’re never quite sure when to say, “Enough!” at the table. Plus, the hormone that tells your brain you’re starving, called ghrelin, shoots higher than ever. That is just the beginning of your problems. When you inevitably start gaining back weight, you start the cycle of yo-yo dieting all over again. It gets more and more frustrating every time you do it.”
So, stop calling it a diet and start looking at your choices in eating as a lifestyle change. Shift your thinking from merely “cutting back” to simply eating proper portions of the right, nutritious foods. Whole foods will repair, nourish, and support every cell so that your body will work for you and not against you.
At the end of the week of 4 days (usually only 3) of a restricted diet, and one all protein day, I lost 5.5 pounds. I am back to normal carb controlled eating. I will work hard to restrict myself to closer to 50g of carbs a day and try not to go to the upper level of 100g a day because I still want to lose 3 pounds in order to be closer to my all-time weight goal. It is always work. You can’t just give up. If I can lose weight, anyone can. I lose very slowly and my body LOVES holding onto the weight with my sluggish thyroid.
At the end of the day, you have to work on your motivation. It is KEY in weight control.
It is Easter and I am not going to indulge in traditional Easter candy. I have no idea who came up with the idea as candy being attached to high holy holidays. “It is the day Jesus was born–have some chocolate.” “It is the day he has risen, have some chocolate.” And then, “it is your birthday, so have some cake.” We should focus more on spending time on things that we can do physically. “It is a holiday, let’s meet up with family or good friends and go for a walk and talk.” That is so much better for everyone involved.
Do something fun. Change the way you do things. Don’t teach children that when it is a holiday, they have to get a basket of candy or chocolate. They can color eggs and have fun, but come on everyone. Let’s change the way we do things in order to teach ourselves and our children better HABITS.
There is a lady in my Pilates class who discusses holiday foods like they are part of her holiday orgasm, but she also is very heavy and used to be even heavier–plus her husband suffers from diabetes. How has candy and chocolate associations to holidays helped out her life? Everyone who I know who is into all of this candy, has someone larger or ill in their home. So, think about it. What is wrong with special Easter omelets and turkey sausage with some delicious coffee?
If you want to look good and feel good, and teach your family to do the same….take a chance and change the way you do things. Change traditions. Not all are good. Teach motivation and discipline. I often get told that I have amazing discipline. You just have to teach yourself and coming from a disciplined father, I am sure a lot rubbed off on me. Do the same for your family.
For those of you following up with my being stuck and couldn’t move my weight at all, after gaining a couple of pounds from steroid use….here is the update.
Day one, lost 2 pounds.
Day two: lost 1.5 pounds.
I am on Day 3 now and the last day. I wrote about my diet foods a couple of blogs earlier if you want to know what I did. Just scroll back through a few days.
Tomorrow is ALL protein day, no fruits, no salads, no veggies. Then, I can go back to normal. Then, my metabolism had a GOOD SHAKING and I am ready to rock and roll again. YAY!
Will report tomorrow how I am doing.
🙂
I think taking Prednisone when I was having a bad skin allergy, really messed my system up. Two hours of exercise a day and following a low carb diet–not gaining, but not losing weight. I am so frustrated. So….
Plateau diet for today.
Egg and grapefruit for breakfast.
Snack-Liquid protein drink 3 hours later.
Lunch–salad with ahi.
Snack- 3 hours later–liquid protein again and grapefruit.
Dinner–repeat lunch.
Snack-3 hours later-liquid protein again and grapefruit.
oh, my saving grace–LOTS of coffee.
Pray and cross fingers that the scale moves tomorrow!
Oh, and I heard that Snickers and other snack bars (NOT PROTEIN BARS) are slmming down. Read the story here.
I wrote a couple of days ago about a recipe for low carb zucchini-based lasagna (instead of high carb noodles). So, I made it and had it for dinner. My husband a d I thoroughly enjoyed it. I definitely recommend it because low carb should not have to be boring. It was Italian, delicious and had vegetables!
I recommend that you bake it high up near the heat to get the cheese crispy and to bake it for an hour. The recipe says half an hour, and that is just not enough cooking time. I purchased the ingredients at Trader Joes and I bought a mandolin slicer (my first use of one, ever) at Target. I have pictures from start to finish. I hope you try it. It took me about 30 to 45 minutes, but it could go faster each time I do it.
Every now and then, I miss pasta. So, I have been working hard to get back down a few pounds to my goal weight. Today is day two of two hours of exercise (Pilates and Elliptical). I should get to goal soon enough, so I ordered some low-carb lasagna noodles. I am going to attempt to make a low-carb lasagna with these noodles. I ordered them from FiberGourmet.com. 2 ounces of the noodles is 42g of carbs, but the fiber is 18g, making the net total to be 24g of carbs.
However, in the meantime, my caulflower-based pizza was so delish (haven’t done the delish zuccini-based one yet), I am going to attempt to make a low-carb zuccini (replacement of pasta) lasagna this week, since I am taking some time off to do things for the holiday week.
Here is the recipe that I found. If anyone does it first, let me know how it came out.
This low-carb lasagna uses zucchini “noodles” instead of lasagna noodles. The trick to making this work is to take some of the water out of the zucchini first by salting the “noodles”. Then they firm up and are more noodle-like, instead of mushy. This recipe can be made with or without meat.
The picture is what I am HOPING for!
3. While the zucchini is dripping, cook the meat. Then, combine the ricotta, eggs, and basil or parsley.
4. Spread the zucchini strips on paper toweling or a cotton tea towel to take away most of the surface liquid.
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Put ½ cup of the pasta sauce into the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan, and combine the meat with the rest of the sauce.
2. Begin layering by covering the sauce with a layer of zucchini. Then cover the zucchini with about one third of the ricotta mixture, one third of the sauce, and one third of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat, only arrange the zucchini strips in the other direction, e.g. if in the first layer the strips are lined up along the length of the pan, for the next layer line them up across the width of the pan. Alternate again for the third layer. After the third layer, finish with the Parmesan cheese.
3. Bake until the cheese is golden brown, about 30 minutes. (Note, if you refrigerate the lasagna before baking, cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes covered, then remove the foil and cook an additional 30 minutes, or until cheese is golden brown.)
Makes 8 Servings.
Nutritional Information: Each serving has 8 grams effective carbohydrate plus 2 grams fiber (10 grams total carbohydrate), 25 grams protein, and 408 calories.
For Meatless Version: Each serving has 8 grams effective carbohydrate plus 2 grams fiber (10 grams total carbohydrate), 17 grams protein, and 242 calories.
How much do you want to lose weight? Do you really want to do it? Then, you have to work for it. You can’t do anything half-assed and expect full results. So, here are some suggestions to do it and do it well.
WEIGHT MANAGEMENT SUCCESS TOOLS:
1. Plan and prepare your meals for each day. You gained weight because of BAD choices or UNINFORMED choices, so this is not a diet, this is a change of LIFESTYLE. You have to plan what you will eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner and your three protein snacks in between and after dinner. You have to prepare to eat something with protein every 3-4 hours, four small vegetable servings a day, two small vegetable servings a day and two small salads a day. You can even make part of your plan to go out, but have in mind what you would order that will fill your daily requirements. If you eat pasta, rice, wheat products or starchy vegetables, you might be ruining your chances for success.
2. Your in-between meals can be snacks that are protein-based like a protein bar, but choose snacks wisely. Low carb choices have to be the way to go. Even yogurt needs to be a good choice. Dannon Greek Lite and Fit has 8 g of carbs and Chiobani has 20g of carbs.
3. Try to eat items that have a lot of fiber. Some protein bars have fiber. Good vegetables have fiber. Fiber makes you feel full and less like snacking. You can even use a fiber supplement like Metamucil.
4. Shop smart. “When I go shopping, I read labels. I look at carbohydrates, and I don’t buy anything that’s over 20 carbohydrates. I Don’t buy large quantities of food because then you don’t overeat.
5. Find an enjoyable exercise. I prefer Pilates, Yoga and the elliptical if I can use my IPAD while on the machine (killing two birds with one stone.) Some people hate all of that and love Zumba or dance, or even swimming. Some people like group social hikes. Some people only like walking their dog. Find something and do it. No more excuses. Moving your body is good for being youthful, healthy in body and mind.
6. Portion control! 4-6 ounces of meat/protein per serving, six servings of protein a day. And the alloted vegetables, fruit and salad (see number 1)
7. Educate yourself. I learned a lot by going to Lindora and reading their books. I read online a lot about carbohydrates, glycemic loads, etc. Read Skinny-Rules to learn. You need to learn what to do to lose the weight.
8. Get support. The nurses at Lindora were excellent support for me. Some like groups like Weight Watchers or Overeaters Anonymous. Look into a support group, person or website.
Handy chart to help you remember what is low-carb. Cut it out and hang it on your fridge.
When wanting to lose weight and maintain your weight, you need to be conscious of how many carbs you get into your diet daily. YES, you want vegetables, but many people mistakenly think of potatoes of any kind as an innocent vegetable. You need to get 4 small servings of vegetables a day (about half a cup of each serving), but if it is a STARCHY vegetable, not so much. You need to cut down the serving by half if it is carrots and you have to be aware that I gave up starchy vegetables altogether. Now, you can have them if you like, especially in maintenance, but be aware of what they do to your body.
First, the good they do. Potatoes are a very good source of vitamin C and potassium and a good source of folate, vitamin B6, and manganese. They also contain a fairly high concentration of antioxidant phytonutrients.
The problem with potatoes is that they are high on the glycemic index.
Many people have problems processing large increases in blood glucose. Having blood glucose that is too high, is on the road to diabetes and the way to correct this is to cut carbs and eat foods lower in glycemic index numbers.
Vegetables LOW in carbs:
So, eat your VEGGIES and choose wisely.
P.S. The carb content of the above mentioned items per serving:
cauliflower, brocoli 1-3g of carbs, spinach is 0-1 g of carbs and a potato is 35g for a medium potato. See the difference? If you want to stay skinny, you can’t have more than 50-100g of carbs a day. 35g is a lot for ONE item for the day.
Skinny-Rules 