Here’s my eating plan for the week of July 4th-10th, basically Monday through Sunday. I’ve created this for two reasons, one is, I have excess belly fat that I have regained that I want to lose and two is, I’ve allowed some foods back into my diet that are causing cravings, that I need to get rid of. I know I have some hormonal issues, I eat very strict and work out pretty heavily and yet I cannot seem to shed these last 4-5 pounds. The crazy thing is I had lost the 5 pounds and was eating pretty freely (for me anyways) eating honey and nuts and fruit, and still able to keep the weight off and then something happened, I gained two pounds one day, but thought it was just that time of the month and then gained a few more and they never went away. I’m actually eating stricter now than I was when I weighed 5 pounds less. I know I am gaining muscle, I have been adding more weight to my workouts nearly every week, but this isn’t muscle, it’s excess fat around the middle that didn’t used to be there. It’s a bit tough to hear and see people that weigh much less than me being able to eat nuts and fruit freely, and a whole host of other foods that I would blow up with, if I even thought about them.
So! I have been off and on with the nuts and honey and fruit and I want to go at least a week with it very structured to see if these things are the issues and I can go from there. It may be that I can have these things, just not in the quantities that I’ve been eating them. :-)
This isn’t new for me by the way, I’ve been putting myself on these little tests for years now, fine tuning, fine tuning, fine tuning. :-) I think it’s important that we do it, it’s how we find out exactly what is making us gain or keeping us sick etc.. So here’s my rules for the week.
1. I will not be hungry. If I’m hungry, I’ll eat and I’ll stop when I’m full. (I’m not limiting protein portions)
2. I will drink 120oz. of water per day.
3. I will take my vitamins , 2 times daily.
4. No honey.
5. No dates.
6. No nuts.
7. I will eat plenty of protein (Mostly beef, chicken, shrimp) and plenty of vegetables (mostly Romain, cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli) and I will get my fat from olive oil, omega fish oil tabs and from the proteins.
8. I will eat ONLY 2 level cups of fruit or less, primarily melons and berries.
9. No dairy, no grain.
10. I am allowed 2 tiny squares of 70% chocolate per day (1 inch x 1/2 inch ‘squares’).
Great Job! Do you feel after one day that this might be where those extra pounds came from?
Hey there, I’m not real sure! How’s that for “not being an expert on all this..” I used to call myself the biggest Guinea pig around for all the ‘tests’ I’ve done on myself. The nuts seem to be a key factor but I’m going to keep pressing forward to see if I can figure it all out. The crazy thing is about six months ago I was practically living on nuts all day long and then would eat a steak and veggies at night and was 4 pounds lighter than I am now. Ugh… so strange. :-)