Showin' My Spread...

So after about 8 weeks of exercising....  I was feeling pretty good with the progress I'd made with respect to my physical fitness, but I was still stalling out with my overall weight loss.  I was feeling pretty bummed about it, because to be perfectly honestly, I know I have quite a bit of weight that should be able to come off quite easily.  I knew the problem was with my diet, but I was sort of stumped as to which way to go.

After hearing so much about Weight Watchers, through friends and their commercials, I thought I might give it a try, so I went to check out their website.  Now, there's absolutely NO way that I would go to meetings.  I realize this is an effective tool for some people (TOPS meetings had worked well for my mom back in the day), but I have enough issues with people's perceptions of me to put myself in a situation like that.  So, obviously, the website membership would be the way to go for me...  but after poking around a bit, I wasn't sure if the cost would justify the perks.

So I decided to check-in to eDiets.  About 4 years ago, both Brad and I had been following the basic eDiets diet.  We both lost ... maybe 10 pounds in a month or so, but instead of using the "preprogrammed" menus, I found myself constantly substituting meals, because I refused to eat what they suggested... well, either I had a problem with it or I knew Brad would, so eventually, we ended our membership and decided to go it alone.   Well, extra weight can weigh heavily on the mind - my case squashing the negatives and making the positive look like the magic "pill" I needed, so I decided to check back in to it.  At first, the little quiz they have indicated that the basic eDiets plan would be the way to go, but as that wasn't appealing (as there seem to be so many more "sexy" ones available on the site), I revisited one answer in particular and it came back with the GI Diet, which honestly I'd been interested in 4 years ago.  Just when I was about ready to sign up again, Brad reminded me that the most I got out of our previous go had been for the recipes, so I was back at square one.

At this point, I was feeling lower than low.  Then, my hubby made a suggestion - we'll both keep a log of what we eat.  Okay, so at first, I rolled my eyes and voiced my opinion that it wouldn't work, because I was already eating pretty well and could already tell you what I'd eaten in a day, but then he introduced this idea of a bit more involved log than I was used to.  Basically, the spreadsheet he came up with allows me to log the following numbers about my meals: calories, total carbs, fiber, sugar, protein, and fat.  Then it will calculate some rough percentages about the meal - carbs, protein, and fat, with the idea that these numbers would be close to say 40-30-30 (from the Zone - which Brad was impressed with).  Instead of just indicating the name of the meal (as he'd intended), I fill in what I ate and added a column for the time of the meal.  My goal would be to eat a small meal/snack every 3-4 hours, with a little bigger meal at dinner time.   The total calorie count for a typical day at this point should be 1200-1600.

From Be a 10 in 2010

Now, a week and a half into it, I have to say that this is about as perfect a solution for me at this point as I could possibly imagine.  It helps me be a bit more cognisant of the different aspects of the food I'm eating.  It allows me to have a general plan, but not be locked in to a set menu.  An on-the-fly plan.  I love it.  I feel like I'm in control and I already feel much better - not to mention I've seen some pounds tick off the scale in this short time.  While this was probably meant to be a short term activity, I think I'll keep going with it for a while, but I am checking into a GI book, so I can get a better understanding of what that's all about.

At this point, with this approach to eating and my exercising (generally up to 5-7x's a week), I feel unstoppable.  Time will tell, so stay tuned....