I am currently rebounding from an ill conceived attempt to shed 10lbs. First off the sheer stress it caused everyone around me was astounding. No one thought I had 10 lbs to lose, when in actuality, I've spent more of my life being 125 lbs than I have 135 lbs. Here's the thing; the last decade of my life has been dedicated to putting on lean muscle mass. To get these gains, baby! The shock my system is going through is directly related to breaking my routine.
What I will say is that I have been in the maintenance phase for at least 5 years. I never wanted to drastically change my physique in a rapid timeline. It's always been more about lifestyle changes over restriction practices. Boy howdy, did this small sample of dieting affirm my approach of slow and steady over anything. Alas, for those who have more discipline than they have patience:
Here are the "No's"
Do not consume the following:
Bread products
Starches (potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash etc)
Pasta (Yes veggie noodles are discouraged as well
Added Fats and Sugars. (dressings, sauces, butter
Dairy (no egg yolks. maybe egg whites, no cheese, no milk
Sugary drinks (includes alternative milk products)
Alcohol
Red meat
Fish
Caffeine (consider to dropping to one caffeine drink a day)
The thought behind certain restrictions makes sense, I'm essentially eliminating a lot of glycogen from my diet. Bread products are complex carbohydrates and therefore by the time my body get's through breaking down the chemical compounds to glucose, it'll be time to store as fat (glycogen). Same reasoning behind eliminating starches and pastas. Next we attack excess glycogen by taking away eggs. While eggs are considered a complete protein (has all 9 essential amino acids) there are other ways to get this little protein without the cholesterol and fat. Remember eggs have enough glycogen storage to fuel the creation of a baby chicken. That's a lot of sugar.
Reducing sugar is the next method in reducing glycogen. While nut milks may not yield the same amount of fat as calves milk, it certainly has the same amount of carbohydrates. For example, Oat milk has 16 g of carbohydrates and reduced fat milk has 12 g of carbohydrates. So say goodbye and try your coffee or tea with water. Oh, we aren't done with the beverages either, alcohol is a big no. there may be carb free alcohol, but there is no such thing as an alcohol that doesn't calories. Ethanol breaks down to 7 calories per gram of alcohol. Sorry sis, you'll have to find a different way to cope.
Now is the time to stick to that strength training regimen. You want the muscles working overtime to grow, not just burn calories. This will ensure that whatever you are eating is being used and not saved. This will then force the body to convert the white fat into brown fat. Brown vs white makes all the difference. White fat is the fat we see and dislike, while brown fat is what the body converts into heat (energy). So the premise of having a fat and sugar restrictive diet is to help convert the white fat stores by only giving the body enough food to stimulate metabolism.
That being said. I was on a calorie deficit because I usually eat about 2500-3000 calories to maintain my weight along with my diet. Going down to 2000-1700 calories was torturous. Here is a sample of my daily diet and schedule:
4:00 am Stretch and drink 20 oz of water
4:30 am Poop
4:45am Make Americano (espresso with water)
5:00 am Begin commute to work (incorporates 30 mins of bike riding)
6:00 am First Client, drink water or coffee
7:00 am Eat oatmeal (2 cups of oat meal with nuts and dried berries)
7:30 am Client
8:30 Client
9:30 Client Snack on sugar snap peas or cherries
10am Client
11am Eat lunch of 2 cups white rice and 2oz of lean chicken breast.
11:30 am Lifting program
12:00 PM Client Drink water
1:00pm Commute home (30-45 min on bike)
2:00pm Chicken drumstick with salad mix (iceberg, raddichio, carrots, cabbage) with red wine vinegar added. Eat more cherries and a bag of nuts
3:00-5pm Nap or do a chore
5:00pm Last meal, 2 chicken drumsticks. 1 handful of carrots 1 TBSP of hummus
5:30-7:30pm Clients/ cardio classes.
7:45pm Kombucha or water.
9:45pm Sleep
Doing this particular schedule lost me 4lbs in 2 weeks. The issue is that I rebounded with the simplest thing like eating a 5 Guys hamburger to celebrate my client's birthday. Would you believe I stepped on the scale and was right back at 135? My body holds onto red meat. I'm always constipated after eating steak or a burger. Red meat isn't a huge part of my lifestyle diet, though it's not a restriction either. I now know, that red meat will stay in my gut for about 3 days, for it altered my waist measurement. So when in doubt pack your own food on social outings.
The True Truth:
I did drink, I had to confess to reduced alcohol rather than no alcohol. I was actually doing fine at home, however social situations and me not planning to have my own drink canteen led me to drink wine and beer. I probably would have lost more if I completely stopped drinking calories. Caffeine was hard. It wasn't so much the coffee but then the other types of caffeine drinks that have sugar got in my way. We love a Watermelon flavored Celsius over here.
I became frustrated that I couldn't outrun my diet. Even with the 5 guys burger, I still lifted every day. Even one day I couldn't put up my usual number because I was so hungry. Alas, where there is food there is gains, and where there Is cardio there is over eating. I had to stop listening to my body's plea for more calories in order to shed the pounds. I had panic attacks in the middle of the night and my sleep which is usually solid became interrupted in a major way.
At first my waist went down 1/2 inch and then it went up a full inch an I lost 1 inch off my hipline. (that's where my fat is anyway)
So... What am I recommending?
Try it, Chances are it's not going to suck for someone who has weight to lose as much as it sucked for me. Because my body was in a routine that already worked, the changes to my diet jarred me into holding weight for 1 week. I finally got the 4 lbs down after 10 days.
Do not watch the scale. It's pointless to watch your body go up and down and up and down. It's just going to change. I wouldn't be on the scale every day like me. Again, this is something I do with clients. We don't know what the significance of the scale number means even if it breaks them all down for us. However the stress of trying to see the number move truly bummed me out.
Try out my schedule. I'd love the feedback!
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