Having lost 6.6 pounds in just two weeks, I feel successful. Actually, I feel fat. I've never had a perfect body, but I'm also not typically at a weight that would allow for 6.6 pounds of weight loss in just two weeks. But I'll take it. A famous quote of mine goes a little something like this: "accept yourself for you you are, where you are. If you're not happy with what you are, then do something about it. If you're unwilling to do something, then just shut up about it." In other words, I can't stand people who perpetually whine and complain about their weight and then do nothing about it. What' sworse are those who 'try' to do something about it and then give up after two days, and then use that in their ammo for "I've tried everything and nothing works." Get real.
Losing eight inches off my body without doing a single sit up felt more scandalous than successful. But, after two weeks on the slow-carb diet, I'm rearing to go. Time to put on that lean muscle. Time to rebuild my endurance. Time to get my buttocks back into my bike shorts without ripping the seams.
After a couple of remarks from a few people, I feel like there are a few things I want to address today.
The Slow-Carb diet ExplainedWhat am I eating? What am I not eating? Every meal, I include a protein source (lately chicken breast), legumes (lately kidney & garbanzo beans), and as many veggies as I please (lately baby spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes - they're a fruit, I know - but they are allowed on this diet as one of 2 exceptions to the no fruit rule). I top that concoction off with Newman's Own balsamic vinaigrette. Very tasty.
I don't eat white carbohydrates (no sugar, no flour, no grains, no rice, no potatoes, etc). No fruit (with exception of tomatoes & avocadoes). I don't drink my calories (no milk, no juice, no soda, etc).
Once a week I go hog wild and purposefully eat the crapola I've purposefully avoided in the six days prior. This past Sunday, for example, I kid you not, I ate the following: chocolate chip cookies, chocolate milk, string cheese, whoopee pie, french fries, Wendy's 1/4 pounder, a chocolate frosty, 2 Capri sun drinks, sweetened coffee, a breakfast sandwich, a homemade donut, a chocolate cupcake (rather large), 5 chocolate covered cherries, and Stonyfield Farms yogurt. Not lying. I ate that much in one day. Not because I lost willpower, but because I had control.
Weight Loss v. Body Composition ChangeSomeone recently made a comment about losing water weight and then gaining water weight back due to bloating and the menstrual cycle, and then gaining weight due to muscle gains. I want to address these topics today too.
My main focus on this weight loss quest is to change my body composition. I
will lose weight in the process of getting there, but I am driven more by the desire to have lean muscle on my body than I am to weight 112 pounds on the scale. I am an endurance athlete. I am striving to be a decent triathlete. Being lighter will help because I'll have less mass to carry around. But I love muscle and muscle generates power, so I would never sacrifice strong muscles for a happy number on the scale. Will I remain at 148 pounds when my body composition is around 18% body fat? Hell no. I would never want
that much muscle. My weight will go down, even as I build muscle. I'm not close enough to my ideal body composition for that kind of a numbers switch.
The menstrual cycle and the age-old monthly excuse that far too many women use: forget about it. I should enlighten you. On January 29, 2011, I weighed 155 pounds. A week later, I was on the 2nd day of my menstrual cycle, when bloating and yuckyness are at their worst. Should I remind you that I weighed in at 4.6 pounds lighter that day? I don't use my menstrual cycle as an excuse to be lazy, to be fat, to overeat. I have run in a lot of very important races (and done well) during that time of the month. I'm not worried about gaining weight during my cycle and 'sabotaging' my diet because I'm driven to succeed and I am filled with discipline. I have the willpower to turn down a social eating event and that chocolate bar stopped staring at me in the face when it realized I wasn't even looking. I want to lose weight more than I want instant gratification that I'll have to pay for later.
Water WeightWhen a morbidly obese person loses 18 pounds in a week (as seen on Biggest Loser), people often say, "well half of that is water weight." I just want to point out that an adipocyte (storage cell for fat) is surrounded by water. So when soeone loses that fat storage cell because the fat got taken up for engery (due to caloric deficit), the associated water was also excreted from the body - sweat, urine, tears, saliva, etc. It's OK to count water weight loss as weight loss. Because if someone can lose 18 pounds in a week, it means they have excessive amounts of adipocytes.
Carbohydrates cause water retention. This is what people experience when they stop a healthy diet and start eating their comfort foods - breads, cereals, bagels, pasta, lattes, milk, etc. The carbohydrates cause a huge fluctuation in water weight. Stop acting like you can't survive without sugar, and the water will be flushed from your system again.
I'm looking for a body composition change. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything in life by not allowing myself to gorge on macaroni & cheese for dinner, bagels for breakfast, etc. I surprisingly don't miss my morning sweetened coffee. I always thought grains were an important part of the diet because the food pyramid told me so. Well, the food pyramid has changed several times since I was first introduced to it. Not to mention, the population of people it was intended for (US population) are in majority VERY obese. We are suffering from a nation-wide epidemic of morbid obesity. So what gives? I think I can live without a daily overdose of refined sugar. I think I can live with lots more proteins and beans and veggies. If I really miss chocolate chip cookies, I'll have them on Sunday. I'll eat the whole bag if I want to. Because I can.
Positive ChangesThese are the positive changes I've noticed in my body since following the slow-carb diet: no more heart palpitations, no need for coffee in the morning (I started drinking green tea regularly), I feel energized, I'm less cranky, less tired, I sleep well, digest foods well (unless I've flecked up the chili). I've stopped the incessant need for emotional eating (turns out boredom is technically an emotion). And I rarely get hungry between meals. If I do, I add more beans at the next meal and it stops. Best of all, I feel in control of my life. If I can control my diet, I can control my health and that is enough control for me.
