Monday, January 11, 2016

A new year and a new start

I have been super infrequent on this blog that few people read anyway.

I did the 2020 program. For 6 months I went on a high protein diet - and I lost a bunch of weight and also acquired some really great habits.


  • The first was the consumption of protein
  • The second was exercise. I work out almost daily now. I bought a Nordic Track for my birthday and really love it ( not exercising) 
  • Plus I have substituted a good habit for a unhealthy one. DH and mine Sunday date has changed into a long walk and then eating at home or ordering something super healthy like Pho ( and not eating the Rice noodles) 
  • I meet a dietician every month for accountability


Despite all of these good changes and feeling stronger and more energetic than before - I have gained 7 pounds back 

To be honest - I have not really stayed on the food plan as well as I should. I appear to also have become carb-sensitive. ie the eating of simpe carbs makes me gain weight ridiculously fast as well as feel excessively sluggish and tired

I want to shake things up a bit so I and DH are going back on one of our old diets that I have written about here. The 17 day diet which is not very different than the 2020 diet - except that it does not have protein shakes and protein bars ( which I am a bit sick of right now )

17 days is also exactly the time I have between now and going back to India for 4 weeks so its perfect for going back into a land where delicious carbs will surround me and I will allow myself to eat some of my favorite foods

Why am I writing here?

That is because I want to declare here that I intend to lose 5 pounds by January 29.

Declaring a goal is important  because per a habits book I read recently I am "Obliger" when it comes to habits . For more on this read Gretchen Rubin's "Better than Before". One of the best books I have read on habits ( For more on Habits  you can read Nudge, Switch, Why we Decide and or course the wonderful "Power of Habit")

Obligers respond readily to outer expectations, but struggle to meet inner expectations. In other words, they work hard not to let other people down, but they often let themselves down.

Obligers may find it difficult to form a habit, because often we undertake habits for our own benefit, and Obligers do things more easily for others than for themselves.

For Obligers, the key to forming habits is to create external accountability.

For me Temperence is much harder than Abstinence as it requires considerably more will power  ie it takes enormous will power to just eat one square of chocolate and much lesser to eat none at all

I need to make bad habits harder. So for instance in the evening when DH and I sit on our recliners and watch TV we have a tendency to munch on something . Instead if i sit on the Love Sac - its impossible to eat as there is no place to put a plate or a cup

Finally food rituals =pleasure. So I need to find new rituals to look foward to

Today's rituals will be


  1. Nordic track and watching Deborah Gruenfeld of Stanford lecture on Mastering Body Language in Group Settings (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHciMDvgtBg)
  2. Watching River 
  3. Drinking a Skinny Latte 





Sunday, February 23, 2014

Week 1: 2 pounds down

How was Week 1?

Well it was FAR from perfect- but I had really good reason. R had to go to the hospital on Tuesday and Wednesday ( he is fine )
We ended up eating 2 days from the hospital cafetaria. I ate okay in terms of calories but not at all okay in terms of 17 day
I walked 6 of 7 days ( even in the hospital - thanks to the Fit Bit )
A slight amount of cheating on weekend as well as I lost the momentum
So I am 2 pounds down- which is not the best for 17 day
Tomorrow in a new week 

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Day 1

I had a great first day
I am really motivated - I actually WANT To diet .
Sometimes when I am dieting - I don't really want to and so I make little excuses  -a little cheating here - a little cheating there
But simply the fact that I have not been dieting AT ALL the past 2 months has given me back my ability to be motivated
Note to self: take breaks from dieting from time to time

Breakfast: Tea no sugar ( I really don't like Truvia and artificial sweeteners are best avoided)
Brunch : Trader Joe Chicken Sausage ( while this is not strictly 17 day as its not homemade - the ingredients are all completely like I would make them )  + steamed broccoli
Snacks 1+2 : grapes
Snack 3 : Low fat cottage cheese+ salsa
Dinner: omelet ( 2 eggs + 1/3 cup low fat cheese) + Steamed Cauliflower

I walked 2 miles on the treadmill
My fit bit registered a total of about 6500 steps instead of the 10,000 I am supposed to be taking. I want to do better on this - my excuse is that last night R was nusts and did not sleep at all - I could not sleep either ( do NOT watch Dexter before going to sleep - also on another note how sad with the way the season ended )
R was a real pest all day today as he was very tired
Cooked a lot today for the week ( curried chicken soup will be my lunch everyday )
 

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your life

Well you know what the name of this post means !
Back from vacation
A year of steadily gaining weight and the awareness that I must get on a program.
So Sunday I start the weightloss program again with my full on 17 day diet
I am planning to do it fully with no cheating
I mean to try some new recipes like the following




Cheesy stuffed chicken 
4 chicken breasts
4 oz. Breaststone Live-active non-fat cottage cheese
Fresh Greens
1 tsp garlic, onion Pepper
1 tablespoon of Parmesan cheese

Pound chicken breasts and mix cottage cheese, onion and garlic powder and black pepper with Parmesan cheese. Add spinach and put about 3 tablespoons in center of pounded chicken breasts. . Bake for about 35-40 minutes on 400 degrees.
enjoy!

Green smoothie 
1 orange, 5 strawberries and 2 large handfuls of spinac

Friday, May 4, 2012

The 17 day diet:160 after one week

So the first week and I am doing 4.4 pounds which I would say is VERY good

I had a stressful day today and ended up nibbling on a few bad things - but its okay

Breakfast : Glass of milk
Snack: Carrots
Snack: strawberry
Lunch : O Charley California Salad ( dressing on the side ) no cheese
bad things : several piece of chocolate , 5 spoons of yummy soup, 1 fry
Evening snack : 1.5 oranges , 0.5 apple
Evening snack 2 : 2 cheese sticks
Dinner : Omelette with cheese and asparagus

It turned out to be a day of multiple cheating!

The thing is I can either be a pillar of virtue or be pretty bad - because once I start to indulge a little - it goes on to being indulging a lot

I am taking a break for 1 full day - because Friday night we are invited to dinner to my friends house and she is going through a lot of trouble to make an authentic Indian meal
Ditto on Saturday ( another friend)
So I will start back up on Monday



Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The 17 day Diet Day 6: 160.4

Well I have been on a plateau for three days now
But I still feel like I am doing well
I really need to shake up what I eat and add a few things to add variety
Today i was a little bored and I ended up eating a Salad - I forgot( in a Freudian way )  to ask them to leave the cheese and the tortilla Strips
Fiesta Chicken Chopped Salad
It was DELICIOUS
But I checked the calorie content after I returned and it was 800 calories ( the actual salad is 880 but I did not eat all of the dressing )
You really need to work the plan properly and that means eating in a very well planned way while eating out
I may eat boiled eggs and vegetables for dinner and also walk a lot


Saturday, April 28, 2012

The 17 day Diet :Day 4 ( weight unknown)

I am at the cabin today where I do not have a weighing machine

I have eaten a little imperfectly today owing to my poor planning
Breakfast was my usual Skinny Latte( I love my Capresso so much that we bought one for the cabin as well )
DH and I have a custom of having Salad with Garbanzo beans on Saturdays. My FIL used to say it was lucky for wealth
Now I thought Garbanzo beans were not allowed on the 17 day diet but I saw on the Facebook page that it WAS ( 1/2 cup ) .
Now I don't know if you can do it on the Accelerate cycle but I did
I also had a little bit of fat free chicken sausage as the beans just did not feel enough
Anyway we will have fruit in the evening for snack and end the day with Roasted Asparagus/Cauliflower and eggs